US and China pledge closer co-operation

The United States and China have ended two days of high-level talks with few concrete results but hopeful that connections forged among senior officials will help them work together better to fix the world’s toughest problems.

In remarks after the end of meetings yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said candid discussions on subjects from North Korea’s nuclear programmes to the officials’ grandchildren would be crucial to building a foundation that would let the countries settle future spats and co-operate on major global crises.

“Laying the groundwork may not yield a lot of concrete achievements immediately, but every step is a good investment,” Ms Clinton told reporters at a closing US news conference.

The US-China relationship is marked by periods of cooperation, followed by periods of deep discord when tensions flare over a host of differences, among them trade spats, occasional clashes by the countries’ military forces in the Pacific and human rights.

Relations hit a low point, for example, after the former Bush administration’s approval last year of a major arms sale package to China’s rival Taiwan, which led to China breaking off military talks with the United States.

That last rift appeared to be healing yesterday, as China said it would be sending a senior general to the United States for talks this year and would welcome US generals to visit China.

Vice Foreign Minister Wang Guangya said officials from both countries spent much of the gathering discussing ways to enhance US-China ties.

Improved military contact, he said, could increase trust and reduce suspicions.

Mr Wang, however, issued a stern warning that the United States should “appropriately deal” with the question of Taiwan and not repeat its “wrong decision” on the 2008 arms sale to Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as its own territory.

The United States now is considering a request by the island government to buy 66 F-16 jet fighters.

Adm Timothy Keating, commander of US forces in the Pacific region, said after the talks that the request would be handled as all others are, and the decision would be made by the White House.

The Chinese also announced yesterday that they would be sending a senior general to the United States this year for talks and would welcome US generals to visit China. That was a change from last year when the Chinese were furious after the Bush administration’s approval of the sale of a major arms package to China’s rival Taiwan. At the time, China broke off military contacts with the United States.

On another potentially sensitive point, ethnic riots in China’s oil-rich Xinjiang region, Wang said China appreciated what he called the “moderate attitude” of the US response.

Rioting erupted in the regional capital of Urumqi on July 5 after police stopped a protest by Uighur residents. Uighur demonstrators smashed windows, burned cars and beat Han Chinese – the nation’s dominant ethnic group. Two days later, the Han took to the streets and attacked Uighurs.

Shortly after the clashes began, Ms Clinton said the United States was “calling on all sides to exercise restraint.”

Mr Wang urged Washington to “restrain” Uighur leaders in the United States from conducting terrorism in China, an apparent reference to Rebiya Kadeer, an exiled Uighur activist who lives in the Washington area and who China blames for the riots.

As the leaders spoke, a crowd of Uighurs stood outside the building and angrily and loudly denounced China and its leaders for its violent crackdown in Xinjiang.

Ms Clinton said China’s much criticised human rights record was “absolutely integral” to the talks. But she was vague when asked specifically what issues were raised during the discussions other than violence in Xinjiang Province.

She said China shares US worries over North Korean and Iranian nuclear programs and wants to work with Washington to deal with climate change.

Mr Wang said both sides believe that negotiations are the only way to deal with North Korea’s recent missile and nuclear tests.

Ms Clinton noted that State Councillor Dai Bingguo, who oversees foreign policy for China, had deep experience with Chinese policy toward North Korea and that she had spent “quite a bit of time” with him talking about the North. “I found that very useful, indeed,” she said.

It was not clear, however, whether China, long North Korea’s strongest ally, had agreed to step up pressure on the North to return to six-nation disarmament talks. The North’s recent missile and nuclear tests prompted the United Nations to impose strict sanctions.