Albright Trip Seen Boosting Us-China Ties

The most visible sign of success of US secretary of state Madeleine Albrights China trip may be that it took place at all one day before the funeral of leader Deng Xiaoping.

Albright arrived in Beijing hours after the body of the nations paramount leader was cremated at Beijings Babaoshan cemetery.

A memorial service forDeng will be held today.

Her visit has been shortened to less than 24 hours and there were none of the usual banquets, but for the most part it was business as usual.

The most relevant part of the visit is that it took place at all, a foreign diplomat said yesterday.

Both sides were saying they wanted to go ahead with the visit, and they wanted to move ahead on a whole range of issues that have divided them, said another diplomat in the Chinese capital. That alone was a measure of progress in the stormy relationship, he added.

Deng, having given up all his official posts, was just a private citizen on his death last Wednesday at the age of 92.

But the force of his personality was stamped indelibly on the Chinese leadership, and it was his vision that allowed the nation to open up to the west.

Even with Deng acting as Chinas elder statesman, Sino-US relations have been dogged by a host of problems, ranging from Taiwan to trade, and nuclear proliferation to human rights.

Almost one year ago the two nations stood toe to toe over Taiwan as the United States rushed warships close to the island in a show of force as Beijing staged war games nearby.

The two sides also pulled back from the brink of a trade war over intellectual property last year.

But ties have improved dramatically since a groundbreaking visit last November by Albrights predecessor Warren Christopher, and both countries want that trend to continue under Chinas post-Deng leadership, analysts said.

Albright, who arrived in Beijing at the end of a nine-nation tour, was scheduled to meet Dengs hand-picked successor, President and Communist Party chief Jiang Zemin, as well as Premier Li Peng.

Chinas human rights record is one of the tougher issues for the two sides to see eye to eye on, and American officials tried to play down hopes of any major breakthrough, at least on this brief trip.

Albright told reporters after her arrival that Washington was as always hopeful of progress on human rights and the subject would be touched on during the visit. But she added that both sides needed to take into account other issues as our relations are multi-faceted. While Taiwan is one issue that has faded into the background for the moment, others have emerged to replace it.

The US has been underscoring its extensive commercial interests in the British colony of Hong Kong, which reverts to Chinese rule at midnight on June 30.

Washington, like Beijing, wants to see a smooth power transfer but actions by China to curb civil liberties and scrap the territorys existing legislature have raised new concerns.

China is also eager to join the World Trade Organisation but the US wants Beijing to agree to guidelines for liberalising its trade policies first.

Diplomats said Beijing had realised it needed to court US public opinion if it wanted President Bill Clinton to join it in a continuing effort to narrow policy differences.

The Chinese do seem to realise they need to improve their image abroad, said another diplomat.The message has got through.

President Jiang has extended a welcome to growing numbers of US congressmen visiting Beijing, no doubt mindful that the Clinton administration will have to work with Congress.

Beijing is beginning to realise there are many voices in Washington and it has to listen to them some of the time, said a foreign diplomat.