[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 166 (Wednesday, October 25, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S15683]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 THE SUMMIT BETWEEN PRESIDENT CLINTON AND CHINA'S PRESIDENT JIANG ZEMIN

  Mr. PELL. Mr. President, I rise today to call attention to 
yesterday's summit meeting between President Clinton and Chinese 
President Jiang Zemin in New York.
  Last summer, relations between the two countries fell rapidly and 
unexpectedly to their lowest point since the Tiananmen massacre, 
largely over the visit of Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui to Cornell 
University, his alma mater. Most of us in the Senate, myself included, 
supported that visit as a private one for a distinguished alum. I 
continue to believe that the Chinese leadership in Beijing overreacted 
to the visit and allowed the bilateral relationship to unravel 
unnecessarily. I was sorry that Beijing chose to react to Lee's visit 
by withdrawing the Chinese ambassador to the United States, suspending 
ongoing bilateral discussions on proliferation, canceling visits of 
United States officials to China and visits of Chinese officials to the 
United States, and by canceling bilateral discussions with Taiwan. But 
now, after several months of discord, it appears we have the 
opportunity to bring some stability back to the relationship and I 
support the President's decision to hold this summit in New York.
  I did not believe that this summit meeting would produce a 
significant breakthrough on any of the issues with which we continue to 
disagree with Beijing, including Tibet, ballistic missile 
proliferation, nuclear testing, suppression of dissent in China, and 
trade issues. It did not. Recent press reports state that Chinese 
leaders had demanded certain concessions from the United States, such 
as written assurances that members of Taiwan's top leadership will 
never again be granted a visa to the United States or that the United 
States will refrain from criticism of China's human rights record in 
international fora. The administration rightly gave no such assurances. 
These are important policy issues, with significant domestic and 
international ramifications for both governments. Both governments seem 
convinced that the other is being unreasonable and obstinate. It is 
unrealistic to expect any major accords could have come under current 
circumstances.
  This is an unfortunate state of affairs between two of the world's 
most influential countries and hopefully a passing one. But for the 
time being we must focus on keeping the relationship steady and 
effective. That is why a summit meeting between the two presidents was 
so important at this time. The United States raised all of the issues 
that we believe to be important and let the Chinese leadership know our 
commitment to them, and we should continue to do so. But it was also 
right to listen to President Jiang's concerns and to strive for mutual 
understanding, if not mutual agreement. Those who criticize our 
President for failing to win major concessions likely fail to recognize 
the realities of the current relationship and the necessity of 
strengthening contacts at all levels that will outlast this period and 
carry forward a stronger relationship in the future. I commend the 
President for holding the summit yesterday and hope that this meeting 
will mark the beginning of a more solid and productive period of United 
States--China relations.

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