30 Years After ‘Pingpong’ Gambit, a New Contest

Thirty years after “pingpong diplomacy” launched a new era in U.S.-China relations, the two major powers are about to confront a series of issues that could set back the still ongoing rapprochement.

Washington and Beijing have made enormous strides in their relations since those first tentative sports exchanges. The 1971 exhibition games were commemorated in Beijing this week with events including a pingpong match between former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger and his Chinese counterparts.

But new tension is evident on both sides as the Bush administration opens its first talks today with Beijing’s foreign policy czar, Vice Premier Qian Qichen.

In Washington, one of the clearest and most significant shifts in President Bush’s still-nascent foreign policy has been the reclassification of China as a regional and economic rival, in contrast to the Clinton administration’s view of the Chinese as “strategic partners.”

“We don’t view them as an enemy and don’t wish to make them an enemy, but at the same time, we have to be realistic about the relationship,” Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said in unusually blunt testimony to the Senate two weeks ago. “They’re not a strategic partner--they are a trading partner; they are regional competitors. We sometimes have very different interests in the region.”

Qian warned Tuesday that U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, the most contentious of five key disputes dividing the two countries, could cause “very serious” harm to relations. During a stopover in New York, he also advised the White House to be aware of the negative impact of any move to beef up the arsenal on an island that Beijing considers a rebel province.

The world’s foremost superpower and its fastest-rising economic and military power also face differences over U.S. missile defense, Iraq, human rights and China’s lagging effort to meet requirements to join the World Trade Organization.

Taiwan Arms

The greatest friction between Beijing and Washington involves U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, an annual exercise that riles China. The U.S. decision on Taiwan’s latest request is expected next month.

The Bush administration has pledged to do what it thinks is best.

“We don’t consult with China on our arms sales to Taiwan. We sell to Taiwan what we think is appropriate and necessary to meet their legitimate defensive needs,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Tuesday.

The administration said U.S. relations with Taipei promote a dialogue between Taiwan and China to resolve their political standoff while providing a sense of security to the island, where democracy has begun to take root.

The dispute is all the more volatile because for the third straight year, Taiwan is hoping to win approval to buy four Aegis-equipped guided-missile destroyers. The Aegis system is controversial because, with upgrades, it could be part of an antiballistic missile defense--and boost Taiwan’s bid for independence.

The White House is unlikely to agree to the sale this year, particularly before the president’s first state visit to Beijing in October, according to U.S. experts on China. However, the administration is under mounting pressure from Republicans to act.

Missile Defense

China is also opposed to the Bush administration’s commitment to deployment of a national missile defense system. But with Russia and Western Europe signaling greater flexibility on the issue, China has recently tempered its denunciations with offers of dialogue.

“We are opposed to NMD because it violates the Antiballistic Missile Treaty and can only lead to an international arms race,” Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji said last week. “We have noted that President Bush has expressed the view that they would have consultations with China on this issue.”

China accuses the United States of acting unilaterally, seeking “its own absolute security over others” and precipitating an eventual arms race in outer space.

The administration, meanwhile, is concerned about China’s arms and technology transfers to “rogue” states such as Iran. Last year, China agreed to institute procedures to monitor and control exports of components that contribute to missile proliferation. But the steps have not been fully implemented.

Human Rights

In its annual report on human rights around the world, the State Department charged in January that the situation in China is deteriorating because of a crackdown on the Falun Gong spiritual movement, sporadic repression of other religious groups and imprisonment of dissidents.

Powell pledged to “aggressively push” human rights with China, including through a resolution at the annual U.N. Human Rights Commission summit in Geneva and in talks with Qian.

China counters that its people are freer than at any time in history because they can live and work where they please and that state intrusion into private life has eased significantly. But the regime insists on control of all grass-roots organizations and refuses recognition of any authority other than the Communist Party.

Iraq

A new item on the agenda this year is Iraq. Washington charges that Chinese companies are helping Baghdad build fiber-optics capabilities that could be used for military defense. Beijing initially denied the charge and then said it would look into the work of three Chinese companies in Iraq.

Powell promised the Senate that if the U.S. found Chinese companies involved in ongoing violation of the international sanctions against Iraq, it would call for “appropriate action” against China by the United Nations.

WTO

China reached a bilateral agreement with the United States last year but must still make its system compatible with World Trade Organization standards before it can gain entry to that group.

China says that, as a developing country, it must be accorded WTO member status, which would enable Beijing to provide 800 million farmers a more generous subsidy. But some industrialized nations are balking at its proposal.

“Some member countries have asked for things that are beyond the reach of China as a developing country,” Foreign Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng said at the annual meeting of China’s National People’s Congress earlier this month.

With China hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Shanghai this year, the United States is pushing Beijing to complete the WTO process as soon as possible.

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Wright reported from Washington and Chu from Beijing.