Cheney Seeks Closer Ties to China

Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in China on Tuesday for a two-day visit aimed at nudging the country’s leaders toward greater democratization and cooperation with the United States on Asian security issues, including the standoff over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

U.S. and Chinese officials indicated that they did not expect breakthroughs on the issues that divide the two governments, including Taiwan, human rights and trade.

But both sides noted that the overall U.S.-China relationship had improved markedly since 2001 and described Cheney’s visit as aimed at maintaining that progress.

“I don’t think we’ll see any great achievements,” said Jin Linbo, an Asia-Pacific expert with the China Institute of International Studies in Beijing. “But China is of course pleased with the visit. They want to show not only the American people, but their own neighbors, that China’s new diplomacy is conducive to stable relationships.”

The country’s new leadership of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao appears to have embraced the visit as an opportunity to demonstrate -- to their own people as well as their Asian neighbors -- that China is a responsible diplomatic partner, an emerging force to be reckoned with and a nation that the U.S. is committed to working with despite differences.

A senior American official said Cheney was especially interested in a broad strategic dialogue to deepen the U.S. relationship with Hu, who took office last year.

“We don’t know Hu very much,” the official said, noting that the Chinese leader has had only two relatively brief meetings with President Bush during conferences in France and Thailand.

The official said the Bush administration sees Hu as part of a “new leadership” that could increase China’s cooperation with the United States as it modernizes its economy and reforms its communist political system.

His comments, offered on condition of anonymity, reflected a notable evolution in the thinking of the administration, which considered China a potentially hostile great power when Bush entered the White House in 2001.

Since then, relations have gradually warmed, helped by China’s decisions to support the United States in its battle against terrorist groups, refrain from active opposition to the war in Iraq and cooperate in efforts to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program.

Administration officials remain skeptical of China’s intentions on many issues, from trade to Taiwan, but say they have found the Beijing leadership easier to work with than some expected.

On China’s wish list, one issue towers over all others: Taiwan. Today, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Li Weiyi ratcheted up the pressure, accusing Taiwan’s leadership of provoking the mainland and sabotaging cross-strait relations with its plan to adopt a new constitution in 2008.

China wants to persuade the United States to abandon the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which requires the American government to ensure that the island can defend itself against an attack by the mainland.

But administration officials have made it clear that they have no interest in seeing the act abolished. What China realistically hopes to achieve is a U.S. commitment to “keep Taipei in line” and moderate what Beijing sees as the dangerous excesses of Taiwan’s independence movement.

In Cheney’s first meeting in Beijing, Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong bluntly asked him to suspend sales of defensive weapons to Taiwan, China’s state-run TV network reported.

U.S. officials were not available for comment but indicated before the meeting that they expected such a request and did not plan to agree to it. Instead, Cheney told Zeng that the administration does not support independence for Taiwan, a long-held U.S. position, the New China News Agency reported.

Cheney is also expected to raise Beijing’s human rights record, which continues to draw criticism from international advocacy groups. China halted talks with the U.S. on the issue after the Americans announced they would sponsor a U.N. resolution critical of Beijing.

“We had to suspend our dialogue with the United States,” Kong Quan, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Tuesday. “The United States should bear full responsibility for it.”

Chinese analysts, however, stress Beijing’s growing willingness to discuss the matter and take it seriously, rather than just dismissing the issue as a foreign effort to keep China down.

“Their basic position has changed a lot compared to a year ago,” said Jin of the Institute of International Studies. “The Chinese government now recognizes the need for dialogue with foreign countries, although on the specific cases there will continue to be differences in the future.”

China is also grappling with increasingly vocal domestic constituencies that can limit its policy flexibility, particularly on matters related to Taiwan. Analysts and ordinary citizens openly say the legitimacy of the new Wen-Hu team may hinge on its handling of the issue.

A snapshot of popular attitudes could be seen Tuesday in online discussion groups focused on Cheney’s visit. “China should make a clear declaration that the U.S. must not send weapons to Taiwan anymore, otherwise we will use military force immediately,” read one anonymous posting on www.sina.com.

“If America is truly democratic, it should respect democracy abroad and listen to the majority of Chinese on the Taiwan issue and support China’s reunion,” said another writer.

Cheney will travel to Seoul on Thursday.