24 October 1997CLINTON SAYS ENGAGEMENT WITH CHINA IS THE BEST POLICY FOR U.S.
(Political reform lags behind economic reform in China) (770)
By Wendy S. Ross
USIA White House Correspondent
Washington -- "The great question for China is how to preserve stability, promote growth, and increase its influence in the world, while making room for the debate and the dissent that are a part of the fabric of all truly free and vibrant societies," President Clinton said October 24 in a speech devoted to U.S. relations with China.
The speech, in advance of the state visit next week of China's President Jiang Zemin, was held in the Voice of America auditorium here, and broadcast live around the world by VOA in English and six other languages.
The 71-year-old Jiang will be welcomed to the White House in a state arrival ceremony on the South Lawn October 29, followed by discussions between the two leaders in the Oval Office, a joint press conference and a state dinner.
"The visit gives us the opportunity and the responsibility to chart a course for the future that is more positive and more stable -- and hopefully more productive -- than our relations have been for the last few years," Clinton said.
"At the dawn of the new century, China stands at a crossroads," he said. "The direction China takes toward cooperation or conflict will profoundly affect Asia, America, and the world for decades."
"The emergence of a China as a power that is stable, open, and non-aggressive; that embraces free markets, political pluralism and the rule of law; that works with us to build a secure international order, that kind of China, rather than a China turned inward and confrontational," Clinton said, "is deeply in the interests of the American people."
"As China has opened economically" its people enjoy a higher standard of living, but "political reform has lagged behind," he said, noting that "it will become increasingly difficult to maintain the closed political system in an ever more open economy and society."
The more ideas and information spread, he said, "the more people will expect to think for themselves, express their own opinions, and participate, and the harder it will be for their governments to stand in their way."
Clinton said his belief that growing interdependence over time will have a liberalizing effect on China does not mean that, in the meantime, we should or we can ignore abuses in China of human rights or religious freedom.
"Nor does it mean that there is nothing we can do to speed the process of liberalization, he said.
"Americans share a fundamental conviction that people everywhere have the right to be treated with dignity, to give voice to their opinions, to choose their own leaders, to worship as they please," Clinton said.
"From Poland to South Africa, from Haiti to the Philippines, the democratic saga of the last decade proves that these are not American rights or Western rights or developed world rights; they are the birthrights of every human being enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
"Those who fight for human rights and against religious persecution at the risk of their jobs, their freedom, even their lives, find strength in the knowledge that they are not alone, that the community of democracies stands with them. The United States, therefore, must and will continue to stand up for human rights and to speak out against their abuse in China or anywhere else in the world.
"To do otherwise would run counter to everything we stand for as Americans," Clinton said. The United States continues "to speak against the arrests of dissidents, and for a resumed dialogue with the Dalai Lama on behalf of the people and the distinct culture and unique identity of the people of Tibet -- not their political independence, but their uniqueness.
"We established Radio Free Asia," the President said. "We are working with Congress to expand its broadcasts and to support civil society and the rule of law programs in China. We continue to pursue the problem of prison labor, and we regularly raise human rights in all our high-level meetings with the Chinese.
"We do this in the hope of a dialogue, and in dialogue we must also admit that we in America are not blameless in our social fabric," he said.
Clinton concluded by defending what he called "this pragmatic policy of engagement, of expanding our areas of cooperation with China while confronting our differences openly and respectfully; this is the best way to advance our fundamental interest and our values, and to promote a more open and free China."