[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 14 (Monday, April 12, 1999)]
[Pages 603-604]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Welcoming Ceremony for Premier Zhu Rongji of China

April 8, 1999

    Premier Zhu, Madam Lao, members of the Chinese delegation, 
distinguished guests. Premier Zhu, welcome to the White House and 
welcome to the United States. Your visit is an important event in the 
long relations between our people, a relationship that spans nearly the 
entire history of the United States. Before this city even existed, even 
before our Constitution was signed, China granted our newly independent 
Nation equal standing with the powers of Europe.
    In the late 18th century, it took a ship sailing out of Boston over 
a year to make the voyage to China and back. Today, our people can 
communicate back and forth in less than the time needed to speak this 
sentence. But better communication has not always brought better 
comprehension.
    We have done great things together, and we have disagreed on many 
occasions. For over two decades in this century, we had no conversations 
at all. That was not healthy for either China or the United States.
    At the dawn of a new century, we now recognize that our interests 
coincide on many issues and diverge on some others but that we have a 
fundamental responsibility to speak with candor and listen with an open 
mind. And certainly, we can agree that China and the United States can 
best achieve our hopes in the next century if we continue to build a 
constructive strategic partnership, a relationship that allows us to 
make progress on the issues that matter to our people.
    Those issues include stopping the spread of deadly weapons, building 
a secure and stable Asia-Pacific region, ensuring free and fair trade 
under international rules, promoting

[[Page 604]]

economic growth while protecting the environment, embracing the 
universal principles of political freedom and human dignity.
    Mr. Premier, under your leadership, China has pursued wise economic 
policies, striving to maintain growth, low inflation, a stable currency. 
You have fought hard against corruption, reinvented your government to 
make it more efficient, and reformed state-owned enterprises.
    China's stability during the Asian economic crisis has been crucial 
to Asia's hopes for a recovery. That has been good for millions of 
Asians who depend upon China's economic health and for millions of 
Americans, from small investors to farmers to people who work for the 
many companies doing business in China. America has a stake in China's 
success, in a China that has overcome the challenges it faces at home, a 
China that is integrated into the institutions that promote global norms 
on proliferation, trade, and the environment, a China that respects 
human rights and promotes peace.
    I am grateful for the Premier's visit, following up on President 
Jiang's visit here and my visit to China. I am very grateful for the 
opportunity it gives to both of us to address our potential and our 
differences in an honest, open, realistic manner.
    Mr. Premier, I hope you and the American people learn a lot from 
each other as you travel across our Nation and speak in your candid, 
forthright way. I look forward to our discussion this morning. And again 
I say, welcome, you are very welcome to the United States.

Note: The President spoke at 9:50 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White 
House, where Premier Zhu was accorded a formal welcome with full 
military honors. In his remarks, he referred to Premier Zhu's wife, Lao 
An, and President Jiang Zemin of China. The transcript made available by 
the Office of the Press Secretary also included the remarks of Premier 
Zhu.