[PEN-L:7608] US-China Friendship

["Henry C.K. Liu" <hliu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Lets hope Washington does not interprete this as a sugn of weakness.

Henry C.K. Liu
                      China Changes Tack, Urges U.S. Friendship

                      BEIJING, Jun 3, 1999 -- (Agence France
                      Presse) After weeks of anti-U.S. invective,
                      China's top newspaper urged "friendly
                      cooperation" with Washington on Thursday
                      and offered kind words for ordinary
                      Americans.

                      The change of tone in an editorial
                      published on the front page of the
                      Communist Party newspaper was
                      particularly significant since it came on the
                      eve of the 10th anniversary of the
                      crackdown on the Tiananmen Square
                      pro-democracy movement.

                      On Sunday, state media lashed out at
                      Washington for stirring up the 1989
                      pro-democracy demonstrations.

                      But the editorial in the People's Daily
                      appeared to indicate China wanted to limit
                      the damage to U.S. ties following the
                      NATO bombing of its embassy in
                      Belgrade, which killed three Chinese
                      journalists and ignited a national wave of
                      anti-American fury.

                      One Western diplomat in Beijing described
                      the comments as "positive and encouraging".

                      But "there is a lot of water yet to flow under the
bridge", he said.

                      "Upholding the independent foreign policy of peace
also covers promoting friendly cooperation with Western countries,
including the United States," the editorial said.

                      "Though the improvement and development of the
Sino-U.S. ties has experienced ups and downs, and there are anti-China
forces in the United States, the vast number of the American people
believe in having friendly ties with China."

                      Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao echoed the
positive tone, calling for an end to the contentious annual
congressional review for normal trade relations.

                      "We hope the U.S. can create favorable conditions
for
                      long-term, stable and mutually beneficial trade
and economic cooperation," he told reporters.

                      The editorial carried familiar blasts against the
United States for  what China said was a deliberate strike against its
embassy.

                      And it attacked "hegemonism" and "power politics",
Chinese codewords for U.S. foreign policy.

                      But despite this, Beijing wanted better ties,
indicating its "flexibility in handling foreign affairs as well as its
maturity and confidence in its relations with other countries", the
editorial said.

                      The article raised hopes that China did not intend
to let anger over the embassy bombing poison relations with Washington
across the board.

                      That would be good news for U.S. trade
negotiators, who are waiting for a signal from Beijing to resume talks
on China's
 entry to the World Trade Organization.

                      In response to the May 7 bombing of the embassy,
China put WTO talks on ice.

                      It also cut off a human rights dialogue with
Washington and suspended military exchanges, including talks on missile
non-proliferation.

                      Incensed Chinese poured out on to the streets of
major cities in the tens of thousands to demonstrate outside NATO
missions, especially the U.S. and British embassies.

                      Both missions were stoned for three days and
Washington signaled that it was upset by considerable evidence that the
demonstrations had been organized by the Chinese authorities.

                      China has demanded a formal apology for the
bombing, a thorough investigation, the publication of the results and
punishment of those responsible.

                      A U.S. mission was expected in Beijing to explain
the U.S. position, although there was no timetable.

                      "Discussions on this are under way," the foreign
ministry's Zhu said. He did not elaborate.
((c) 1999 Agence France Presse)