Beijing annoyed by Taiwan issue and nuclear plan
By John Pomfret, Washington Post, 3/20/2002
EIJING - China yesterday expressed alarm at what it called a ''series of erroneous acts'' by the United States in the latest indication that relations between the two countries are heading for rocky times again.
An official Chinese newspaper reported, meanwhile, that Beijing is considering calling off a planned visit of its navy to the United States following recent disputes over Taiwan and US nuclear policy.
President Bush visited China last month and relations seemed to be improving. But, said Zhang Qiyue, spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry, ''in as short as one month,'' China has seen ''a series of erroneous acts by the US side.'' The official New China News Agency added that recent US actions had ''blown a gust of strange, chilly winds into Sino-US relations.''
China is upset by two recent developments: the decision by the United States to allow Taiwan's defense minister, Tang Yiau-ming, to visit the United States, and a Pentagon nuclear policy review that contains contingency planning for a nuclear confrontation with China, among other countries.
Chinese officials have said Tang's visit to the United States, the first nontransit visa given to a Taiwanese defense minister since 1979, marked a warming in relations between the United States and Taiwan - something China opposes. Beijing contends that Taiwan is part of China and has accused the United States of meddling in its affairs. China has also criticized the Pentagon report, accusing the United States of ''nuclear blackmail.''
The Global Times, an influential weekly published by the People's Daily, reported this week that China's Navy had planned to exchange port calls with the US Navy in the last half of this year. Citing unidentified ''reliable sources,'' the weekly said China was considered canceling its plans to send its warships to an American port.
''Naturally this action will influence American plans to send their naval formation to China,'' the report said, ''making this next visit by the US Navy unlikely.''
If the threat is carried out, it would mark the first tangible fall-out from the recent rapid deterioration in the tone of China's ties to the United States.
An official Chinese source confirmed that China was considering canceling the trip as a way to express its opposition to US policies. He said China was still planning to dispatch its vice president, Hu Jintao, for his first trip to the United States, in late April, followed by President Jiang Zemin in the fall.
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, there was optimism in some circles in China that US-China ties would change fundamentally for the better. China backed the US war against terrorism and the two sides resumed intelligence sharing at a level not seen since the 1980s, when Beijing and Washington cooperated in a de facto alliance against the Soviet Union.
But ties between the United States and China have plummeted following Tang's visit to a defense conference in Florida this month and the Pentagon report that mentioned China as a possible target for US nuclear weapons.
In Florida, Tang, on the first nontransit visit of a Taiwanese defense minister since 1979, met with two senior Bush administration officials, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly.
On Saturday, Vice Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing used the toughest words a Chinese official has in months to criticize the United States. Li told Ambassador Clark T. Randt Jr. that China ''will never yield to foreign threats, including nuclear blackmail,'' state-run television reported. ''The days when China could be bullied are gone forever.''
Li also accused Washington of encouraging independence activists in Taiwan by allowing Tang to travel to the United States.
This story ran on page A10 of the Boston Globe on 3/20/2002. © Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.