New Business, Old Business on the U.S.-China Table

President Clinton and Chinese President Jiang Zemin have the opportunity to shape a more cooperative, constructive and consistent U.S.-Sino relationship in their talks in Washington this week. Jiang, making the first state visit by a Chinese leader since 1985, heads a nation that has a different agenda now and increased resources. But some issues are unchanged, and Jiang will be trying to erase the lasting damage of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators.

Clinton signaled his willingness for a fresh start in a speech Friday on U.S.-Chinese relations. “As always,” he said, “America must be prepared to live and flourish in a world in which we are at odds with China. But that is not the world we want. Our objective is not containment and conflict; it is cooperation. We will far better serve our interests and principles if we work with a China that shares that objective with us.”

Despite the president’s early recognition of the importance of a China emerging as a great power, this administration has lacked a clear course on relations and waffled in its “constructive engagement” approach to Beijing. First Clinton threatened to snatch most-favored-nation trading status from China if it did not honor human rights, then backed off. But when China fired missiles close to Taiwan, U.S. aircraft carriers moved into the area, sending a clear message that trouble near the Taiwan Strait was not acceptable.

In always tenuous trade matters, Washington threatened unilateral sanctions when Beijing stalled on cooperation. And the continued imprisonment of political dissidents in China, notably Wei Jingsheng and Wang Dan, clouds relations. But the two countries have worked together to ease tensions over North Korea. The political and economic relationships need nurturing in all these areas.

President Jiang, lacking the charisma of his predecessors, is using the U.S. visit, which will include a stop in Los Angeles this weekend, to polish his image at home, where he recently consolidated his power. There is pre-summit talk that Clinton and Jiang will announce an agreement for China to reduce its exports of nuclear weapons expertise in exchange for the U.S. sale of nuclear power plants to China. That would be a significant deal for both sides and would strengthen the relationship.

The U.S.-Chinese relationship could be the most important of the next century. This visit should provide the outlines of the possible.