The
Jiang Zemin Visit
To Crawford, Texas
CRAWFORD, Tex., Oct. 25, 2002 -- President Bush and
President Jiang Zemin of China publicly vowed today to work
together to persuade North Korea to abandon its newest
nuclear weapons project, though they carefully wended their
way around the divisive question of whether China would take
part in Washington's emerging strategy of economically
isolating the North unless it complied.
Their comments came
during a break in a four-hour meeting here at Mr. Bush's
ranch that was initially planned as a largely ceremonial
farewell visit for Mr. Jiang as he gives up China's
presidency, but which turned into a strategy session on how
to deal with a nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula and
the disarming of President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.
Mr. Bush said at a short news conference outside his home
that the two men had agreed that Iraq had to "fully disarm
itself of weapons of mass destruction." Mr. Jiang, however,
carefully evaded answering any questions about Iraq.
Mr. Bush's aides acknowledged continuing disagreements
between China and the United States on Iraq, but said the
two men had not discussed specifics of a United Nations
resolution on Iraq. In the end, the aides believe that
Beijing will abstain from any vote.
Mr. Jiang, as is his habit, stuck close to his prepared
script today, using the visit to cement his reputation as
the Chinese leader who defused tensions between Beijing and
Washington after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. One
participant in the meeting said the discussion had turned
briefly to whether Mr. Jiang planned to retire from power
fully when he relinquishes his title to a successor.
"We raised that slightly," the administration official
said, relating that Mr. Jiang, a master of cryptic
understatements, said only, "Ah, yes, many people are
talking about that."
At every moment, Mr. Jiang sought to file down the edges
of differences with Mr. Bush. Perhaps to signal that he does
not have as much influence over North Korea as the White
House hopes, he told reporters that he had been "completely
in the dark" about North Korea's secret nuclear project.
That statement raised some eyebrows because the
administration believes that Chinese companies played a
small role in selling technology to Pyongyang.
But the desire to avoid divisive issues ran deep, and as
soon as the two men finished a talk that lasted an hour or
so, they and their wives jammed into Mr. Bush's white
extended-cab truck for a tour of the ranch. That was
followed by a lunch catered by one of Mr. Bush's favorite
barbecue restaurants, which fed the two couples Southern
fried catfish, barbecued brisket, black-eyed pea salad, and
brownies, lemon bars and miniature pecan pies, known to
children across Texas as pecan tassies.
Speaking in a helicopter hangar on the ranch to stay out
of the drizzle, Mr. Bush was asked directly whether he would
negotiate with North Korea while it was still developing
nuclear weapons, the path that the North seemed to argue for
today.
The president never answered directly, saying, "We will
continue to work with our allies." But his aides, speaking
on background, said North Korea "would not be rewarded for
bad behavior."
Mr. Bush, his aides have said in recent days, has no
intention of repeating the path taken by the Clinton
administration in 1994, when it agreed to provide energy to
North Korea in return for its freezing of its nuclear
programs.
"We are at the beginning of a campaign to mobilize the
world against this program, and I think we are making good
progress," the official said, adding later that he expects a
"strong statement" from the United States, South Korea and
Japan on Saturday after Mr. Bush, on the edges of the Asian
economic summit conference in Mexico, meets the leaders of
both countries for the first time since the North Korean
disclosure.
The administration was happy to hear Mr. Jiang declare,
in very blunt terms today, that "China has always held the
position that the Korean peninsula ought to be nuclear
weapons-free."
One official described the emerging American strategy
this way: "We play the bad cop, the Chinese play the good
cop, and the Japanese potentially play the sugar daddy whose
investment in North Korea is at stake."
But it is far from certain that Mr. Bush will be able to
sell that strategy. South Korea's president, Kim Dae Jung,
who is also at the end of his presidency, has staked his
legacy on a "Sunshine Policy" of economic engagement with
the North that a senior administration official said today
"hasn't turned out so well" given the North Korean
disclosures.
The Chinese fear that any effort to deepen the North's
economic isolation will lead to more illegal immigration to
China and the risk of a North Korean backlash.
On Iraq, Mr. Bush stressed common ground, and steered
clear of the differences at the United Nations.
"China supports Iraq's strict compliance with U.N.
Security Council resolutions," Mr. Bush said. He added, "I
urged President Jiang to support a new Security Council
resolution," but tellingly said nothing about his guest's
response. Neither did Mr. Jiang, though the participant in
the meeting said the two men had discussed Iraq "fairly
thoroughly."
Mr. Bush made some specific references to human rights
issues today, saying he offered Mr. Jiang "My views on the
importance of China freeing prisoners of conscience, giving
fair treat to people of faith, and preserving the rights of
Hong Kong citizens."
Mr. Jiang was also ready for the human rights references
that are now a standard part of any meeting like this one,
and said he had told Mr. Bush that "China's human rights
situation is at its best time, characterized by constant
improvement."
///
Respectfully
Josie
Cory
Publisher/Editor TVI Magazine
TVI Magazine, tvinews.net, Associated press,
Reuters, BBC, LA Times, NY Times and VRA's D-Diaries were
used in compiling and ascertaining this news
report.
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