JIANG ISSUES WARNING BEFORE HEADING TO U.S.

Byline: Liz Sly Chicago Tribune

President Jiang Zemin on Saturday told America not to try to pressure China into changing its political system, as he headed for a crucial summit with President Clinton in Washington that both sides hope will set U.S.-Chinese relations on a new and improved course into the next century.

Jiang said he plans to reach out to ordinary Americans during his seven-day tour in a bid to ease the suspicion with which many of them regard China.

But in a sign of how far apart the two sides are on the fundamental political issues that divide them, Jiang reproached Clinton for asserting Friday that the goal of the administration's China policy is to ``promote a more open and free China.''

``I also hope the American people will understand that democracy and freedom are not absolute concepts,'' he said. ``I believe if one should try to impose a uniform system of democracy in the world, that in itself is not democratic.''

Jiang will arrive in Hawaii today to begin a trip that is being hailed as the most important U.S.-Chinese encounter since Deng Xiaoping became the first Chinese Communist head of state to visit America in 1979, after he had facilitated China's open-door policy.

Both Jiang and Clinton are emphasizing the need to achieve a stable relationship between the world's only superpower and Asia's emerging giant, while downplaying expectations that there will be breakthroughs on any of the major issues that divide them.

``At this critical juncture of the turn of the century, whether we are able to bring a sound and stable China-U.S. relationship into the 21st century has a bearing on world stability and prosperity,'' he said.

Rather than risk provoking differences, the meeting Wednesday is expected instead to focus on the less-contentious issues on which they can agree, such as the environment and fighting crime, with the two leaders promising to hold regular summits in the future to address more seriously divisive issues.

By emphasizing the broader significance of the encounter itself, U.S. and Chinese officials are hoping to put relations on a more solid footing after the tensions caused by the first Clinton administration's adoption of a tough line on China's human rights record.

Following the Taiwan missile crisis in 1996, a low point in U.S.-Chinese relations that saw U.S. warships sent to defend Taiwan against Chinese threats, Clinton switched to a more conciliatory approach, on the grounds that isolating China could prove counterproductive.

But the mutual mistrust lingers. Many Americans remain uncomfortable with the idea of a close partnership with such an authoritarian nation, while China suspects U.S. overtures of friendship mask a hidden agenda to curb the rise of a powerful China that might one day challenge American supremacy.

Meeting Clinton is therefore not the only purpose of the visit, Jiang stressed. He said he plans to ``meet people from all walks of life'' in an attempt to change some of America's negative perceptions of China.

Jiang, the leader of an authoritarian, communist government, will be spending a week touring America, including visits to sites associated with American democracy such as Independence Hall in Philadelphia and colonial Williamsburg, Va. He also will visit Los Angeles and New York.

He will be met by cameras and by protesters demonstrating against China's human rights record every step of the way.

Also on trial will be the Clinton administration's policy of engagement toward China, which has yet to produce tangible results on any of the items on America's wish list. They include an end to sales of weapons and nuclear technology to Iran and Pakistan, the release of dissidents and the reduction of trade barriers to ease China's huge trade surplus with the United States.

The best hope of a deal lies with the nuclear issue. China has given the United States assurances it is not facilitating Iran or Pakistan's nuclear programs, Chinese and U.S. officials say. The United States wants that in writing before it will agree to lift restrictions on the export of U.S. nuclear technology to China, something China has not yet agreed to.

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PHOTO Chinese President Jiang Zemin addresses a news conference Saturday in Beijing the day before departing on a weeklong U.S. visit.

Associated Press