TEXT: 11/19 AMCHAM REMARKS BY AMB. JAMES SASSER
(U.S.-China relations: Twenty years and counting)Beijing -- U.S. Ambassador to China James Sasser said the promise of the U.S.-China partnership, built on the understanding that President Carter and Vice Premier Deng made in 1978, and which Presidents Clinton and Jiang renewed this past year, is being translated into reality.
In remarks to the American Chamber of Commerce November 19, Sasser reviewed key events in the bilateral relationship since the June summit:
-- "First, we are continuing the important work of trying to halt the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
-- "Second, we are enhancing our dialogues on regional security issues.
-- "Third, we are reinvigorating our official government dialogue on human rights issues, continuing to work to promote the rule of law and intensifying our discussions on religious issues.
-- "Finally, we have followed up on earlier initiatives on sustainable development to begin new programs to conserve water, marine and natural resources, address global climate change, protect endangered species and promote cooperation on developing and efficiently utilizing increasingly scarce fossil fuels."
Sasser said there is still work to do in other areas, like China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), further market openings and reduction of the U.S. trade deficit with China.
"We are prepared to do our part to build the kind of free market economies which enhance productivity and efficiency, improve welfare and deliver quality goods and services to all the citizens of the global economy," Sasser said, "we simply ask that China join us more fully in this endeavor."
Following is the official text of Sasser's remarks:
(begin text)
U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS:
TWENTY YEARS AND COUNTINGREMARKS BY AMBASSADOR JAMES R. SASSER
AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCEBEIJING
NOVEMBER 19, 1998Thank you for that very kind introduction, Min-Hua.
This is a bittersweet moment for all of us, as we recognize your great service and that of Rudy Schlais, your predecessor, over the past year -- and say good-bye to you in the process. I know that China -- and new foreign exchange regulations -- will always be close to your heart.
I was talking with Mike Furst and others a while back as I was preparing my remarks today and I asked them what I should say to showcase the Chamber in the best possible light. And they all said, well, Jim, just tell the truth.
Well, the truth is that the Chamber has played an absolutely vital role in furthering U.S.-China relations. Not just on trade matters, but in terms of explaining to Americans what is happening here on the ground, everyday, as you go about your business. Washington listens to what you have to say. And so do those of us at the embassy.
You have my thanks and appreciation and I look forward to many more months of work together on these key issues.
Perhaps I ought to stop there.
After all, a keynoter should be brief.
But I also want to say a few things about this historic year for U.S.-China relations.
Almost twenty years ago, President Jimmy Carter and Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping swept aside our outdated habits of dealing with one another -- strategically, intellectually, emotionally -- and established full, normal diplomatic relations.
That decision changed the world we live in.
Since then, the strategic vision shared by President Carter and Vice Premier Deng -- along with the goodwill between our two peoples that survived nearly a quarter century of official estrangement -- has provided a foundation on which we may begin to build -- together -- a constructive, strategic partnership for the 21st century.
Almost twenty years later, another American President was similarly determined to move ahead with possibilities for advancing our shared interests and narrowing our differences.
President Clinton's visit this summer helped capture for Americans the dynamism of China in the last years of the last decade of the twentieth century. And -- along with President Jiang's visit to the United States in October the year before -- the President's historic journey recommitted us to the vision of building, together, a world with unlimited possibility for future generations.
From the moment he landed in Xian, China's ancient capital, to the welcoming ceremony in Tiananmen Square to a roundtable with environmentalists in Guilin shortly before he left China -- the President brought Americans back into touch with the Chinese people.
And, just as importantly, he brought the human face of America to the Chinese people. The face of a country which is today home to millions of Chinese-Americans, where tens of thousands of Chinese study, and where thousands more travel for pleasure and business each year.
Part of the success of the two summits was undoubtedly due to the powerful personal chemistry between two leaders who genuinely respect each other.
The other part, the enduring legacy, was due to better policies and hard work, better communication and hard bargaining -- about the common challenges that we must both address.
The remarkable, impromptu televised exchange on basic human values between President Clinton and President Jiang during their joint press conference in Beijing was the most graphic manifestation of this new kind of engagement. President Jiang's and President Clinton's candid focus on our two countries' perspectives on democracy, individual freedom, and respect for human rights was a measure of the maturing of our ties. We have differences and speak frankly to each other about them.
And the President's speech at Beijing University brought home to the people of China America's own capacity for change and growth. As well as our desire to join with the citizens of this oldest of nations to create new institutions for the 21st century.
Even as he sought common points for agreement and cooperation, the President frankly discussed differences we continue to have on human rights, on non-proliferation, on trade.
The result: a summit full of warmth and hospitality, visual beauty and practical accomplishments. Those accomplishments have been -- are being -- assiduously followed up.
Let me review just a few of the key events in the bilateral relationship since the June summit -- many, of which, I believe, flow from those summit achievements.
First, we are continuing the important work of trying to halt the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
Under Secretary of State John Holum visited China just a week ago to review the entire range of non-proliferation issues which must be addressed if we are to create a more stable and secure world. China's adherence to the Missile Control Technology Regime and its participation in groups which have established limits on the sharing of certain kinds of technology are right at the top of our bilateral agenda.
Second, we are enhancing our dialogues on regional security issues. The Four Party meetings on Korea -- and our work on confidence building measures to reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula -- reflect our joint commitment to keep the peace in this volatile area.
We have a common interest in ensuring that there are no nuclear activities in North Korea and that there is a halt in the destabilizing development, testing, deployment and export of long-range missiles.
I am also pleased to note an increase in our bilateral dialogue on other regional hot spots, such as the Middle East and South Asia. These are areas where we can help forge consensus to address the traditional rivalries and hatreds which have for too long prevented cooperation and peace.
In this context, let me also applaud -- again -- Foreign Minister Tang's chairmanship earlier this year of a crucial P-5 meeting to address the specter of nuclear proliferation in South Asia. We have worked well with China to persuade India and Pakistan to move toward benchmarks detailed in the P-5 communique and UN Security Council resolution on South Asia.
And while not strictly speaking a regional issue, let me welcome the recent meeting between President Jiang and Taiwan's Koo Chenfu as a step along the road to reconciliation between the PRC and Taiwan. The evolving relationship between Taiwan and the PRC is, of course, a matter for these two to decide. But as the President reiterated in Shanghai, we have a continuing interest in a resolution of differences.
Third -- in the way of events flowing out of the summit -- we are reinvigorating our official government dialogue on human rights issues, continuing to work to promote the rule of law and intensifying our discussions on religious issues. We are committed to working with China to narrow our differences on human rights while expanding areas where we can cooperate.
China's decision to sign the International Covenant on Economic and Social and Cultural Rights last year and the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights October 5, which commits China to adhere to international human rights norms and standards, was a very positive step welcomed by the United States and the international community.
There will -- inevitably -- be differences of opinion here about the ambit of freedom. But we have seen and hope we will continue to see an expansion in the area of personal liberty that will inevitably infuse new life in intellectual and political debates here. Recent detentions of dissidents and moves to limit political debate are, however, a source of concern. Over the past year, the international community has welcomed China's overall tolerance toward greater debate. Further steps in these areas will enable us to build on the progress made in the area of human rights during the summit.
China will decide how fast and how far it can take political reform. The U.S. position, enunciated by President Clinton, is clear: We believe that the core values of individual freedom and rule of law are essential to the ability of any society to enjoy fully the benefits of the new global economy.
Fourth, since the summit, we are expanding our discussions on a variety of energy, environment, and scientific matters. We have followed up on earlier initiatives on sustainable development to begin new programs to conserve water, marine and natural resources, address global climate change, protect endangered species and promote cooperation on developing and efficiently utilizing increasingly scarce fossil fuels.
Add to this comprehensive engagement the visits of two influential senators earlier this month, the trip of General Zhang Wannian to America to deepen military-to-military relations, and the recent meeting between our Vice President Gore and President Jiang in Kuala Lumpur on the margins of the APEC meeting -- and you have a relationship that is dynamic, comprehensive, civil, and increasingly attuned to the practical interests of our two peoples.
We have our differences, but dialogue leads to understanding and understanding leads to action.
For example, we need to place our economic and commercial ties on a more reciprocal basis.
This objective is especially appropriate in a year which marks another historic 20th anniversary -- the start of the far-reaching reform program which transformed the economic landscape of China. In the interval between the historic Chinese Communist Party plenum in late 1978 and today, China has undergone a period of economic growth unparalleled in human history. China's leaders have recognized the wisdom of opening this market to foreign enterprises. The surge of technology and services from outside -- fused with the creative energies of the Chinese people -- have, I believe, been responsible for China's largely escaping the downturn elsewhere in Asia.
But in several areas -- China's accession to the World Trade Organization, further market openings, reduction of the U.S. trade deficit with China -- we have considerable work to do.
On the WTO: While we have narrowed the gap between us on the content of a commercially-meaningful accession package, we have been unable to conclude a final agreement. We will continue to try because it is in the interest of our two countries and the global economy. I believe that China's market opening will remain incomplete until it recognizes and accepts responsibilities as a WTO contracting party.
Frankly, Americans -- and Chinese -- would benefit from the kind of fair, transparent and open trading system which the WTO seeks to advance. As President Clinton said recently at World Bank meetings in Washington, the central economic challenge we face is to harness the positive power of an open international system to avoid the cycle of boom and bust that diminishes hope and destroys wealth. All nations must do their part.
So when we see market protections replace market opening -- as has happened in a number of sectors in China in recent months -- and deficits mount -- by our measure, ours will likely hit $58 billion with China this year -- Americans begin to question the benefits of open markets. Closed markets are a sure-fire recipe for worldwide economic decline -- and frustration with closed markets and higher deficits can lead to bad policy choices.
We are prepared to do our part to build the kind of free market economies which enhance productivity and efficiency, improve welfare and deliver quality goods and services to all the citizens of the global economy.
We simply ask that China join us more fully in this endeavor.
U.S. business in China, by the way, has a special place in delivering the goods and helping bridge differences between our two countries. After all, Coca Cola and Pepsi established official relations before the U.S. government did.
Twenty years seems a fitting time to take stock of where we have come from -- an era of mistrust -- to where we are going -- a future in which ties of all kinds -- political, economic, and security ties, ties of kinship and intellect -- fulfill the vision of our leaders twenty years ago.
Today, twenty years later, the promise of that trans-Pacific partnership is very much alive.
As President Carter said on December 15, 1978, the United States believed that the establishment of relations with China would "contribute to the welfare of the American people, to the stability of Asia where the United States has major security and economic interests, and to the peace of the world."
At the same time, he and others, in America and China, understood that a more realistic, more varied, more complex relationship -- with elements of cooperation and competition -- would in fact lead to the kind of balanced and normal relationship that served all of our interests.
Twenty years on, because of that leap of faith into the future that President Carter and Vice Premier Deng made in 1978, and which Presidents Clinton and Jiang renewed this past year, the promise of that partnership and those understandings are being translated into reality.
Thank you very much.
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