China’s Jiang Urges Solidifying of Closer U.S. Ties

BEIJING — Chinese President Jiang Zemin said Sunday that he wants to see China and the United States seize on a recent improvement in their rocky relationship as a foundation for long-term healthy ties.

“China and the United States are two big countries and as such have a major responsibility for maintaining the peace and stability in the world,” state television quoted Jiang as telling visiting Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.).

Jiang stressed the importance of good relations between the two Pacific Rim giants, speaking just two months before he is due to visit Washington for a long-awaited summit with President Clinton that is expected to set the seal on a warming of long-fraught Sino-U.S. ties.

It will be the first state visit to the United States by a Chinese president since China’s leaders used the army in June 1989 to crush student-led pro-democracy demonstrations centered in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

“In recent years, Sino-U.S. relations have maintained a steady trend of improvement and . . . contacts between the two countries in various arenas continued to expand,” Jiang told the 94-year-old senator, a staunch anti-Communist and supporter of Taiwan, which China views as a rebel province.

“One can say that the United States and China now face a good opportunity for improving and developing relations,” he said, referring to hard-won improvements in recent months that followed disputes ranging from trade and human rights to nuclear proliferation and Taiwan.

Jiang told his guest that continued improvement in Sino-U.S. ties could only come as long as Washington did not waver in its recognition of Beijing as the sole government of China.

“China is willing to work with the United States to take advantage of this timely opportunity and to work on the basis of the three joint communiques . . . to develop long-term, stable, healthy relations as we face a new age,” Jiang was quoted as saying.

Under the three communiques, the United States switched recognition to China from Taiwan and recognized Beijing’s sovereignty over the island.

Thurmond, who arrived Thursday for a four-day visit, is president pro tempore of the Senate and head of its armed services committee. He has strongly backed U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan, a policy Beijing vigorously opposes.

Thurmond’s visit is the latest in a series of trips by U.S. lawmakers to China since late last year, when Washington and Beijing began mending fences.

Jiang met with Thurmond at the northern beach resort of Beidaihe, where Communist Party leaders are gathered to decide policy and personnel changes for the next five years.

The Clinton administration has shown a commitment to boosting ties with China.