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)