ALBRIGHT SAYS U.S. SEEKS STRONG TIES WITH CHINA
(Albright remarks before SFRC January 8)
By Jane A. Morse
USIA Diplomatic Correspondent

Washington -- Despite differences, the United States will continue to seek to develop strong ties with China, according to Secretary of State-designate Madeleine Albright.

"A strong bilateral relationship between the United States and China is needed to expand areas of cooperation, reduce the potential for misunderstanding and encourage China's full emergence as a responsible member of the international community," Albright told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during her confirmation hearing January 8.

She acknowledged differences between the two countries on issues such as trade, arms transfers, human rights, and Tibet. But she also pointed to the many interests in common -- the Korean peninsula, crime, the global environment, and nuclear testing.

"I think we're at a stage with China where we have to be frank and firm and engage them," Albright told the Committee in response to questions.

The Clinton Administration, she said, "has made a determination that it is absolutely essential for us to have this multi-faceted relationship with a country the size and importance of China...to have a policy where we think of isolating it is counterproductive to our national interests.

"Over the last month," she said, "we have had discussions within the administration laying out a road map of how our relationships will evolve. Much of it has been announced in terms of the high-level meetings that will be taking place" throughout the coming year.

"We believe that it is essential for us to have a trading relationship with China which is based on a level playing field and access to their markets. We must do more in terms of the area of textiles to make sure that we have access to their markets and the transshipment of textiles here does not cause us problems," Albright said.

On the reversion of Hong Kong to China July 1, Albright said that the United States believes "that what is of great importance to us is that the freedom and democratic approaches that have been evident in Hong Kong thus far are allowed to continue.... It's very important that the Chinese understand that they have to maintain Hong Kong or they will be 'killing the goose that laid the golden egg.'"

Albright emphasized the U.S. adherence to the "one China" policy, but she noted that the United States "will maintain robust unofficial ties with Taiwan."

Albright discussed attempts to link human rights issues with those of trade in regards to China. "I have to say that for a number of years I did, in fact, think that having the linkage between human rights and trade was the appropriate leverage to be used. I think, however, that what history has shown is it hasn't done that. It has not helped in terms of our engagement with China, and it has not particularly improved the level of human rights for the many people in China.

"Therefore, I think that by delinking it, we are going to be able to pursue both avenues equally strongly. I maintain that it is not linkage that creates our strength in terms of arguing human rights, but the fact that we raise the issue with the Chinese in a variety of settings and that we keep talking and dealing with them on the subject, whether it be to release political prisoners or that they treat Tibet in an appropriate way," Albright said.

She added that "we have to choose our approach to how we deal with the Chinese. And I think that it is important for us to engage with that country -- and this is my own personal opinion -- that as we have greater trade relations and there is the creation of an economic middle class in China, that that penetration and the example that we've seen in other countries -- that that will help the human rights situation evolve."

But she emphasized the importance of continuing the pressure on China to improve its behavior on human rights issues, and noted that the United States is prepared to co-sponsor a United Nations resolution criticizing China's human rights record when the UN Human Rights Commission meets in Geneva this spring.

Albright said that she would be rexamining U.S. relationships with the nations of Southeast Asia.

"We have to understand...the regional importance of a country such as Burma, and the rest of Southeast Asia, and in terms of having at appropriate times relations with them so that we have an understanding of how those countries function and what their relationships are with China," Albright said.

"I think we have been lacking in our acceptance of the fact that Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, et cetera, are countries that are in a new phase and that we need to begin to think about how we relate to them. But I can assure you I will spend time looking into those issues."