The US National Security adviser, Mr Sandy Berger, arrived in Beijing yesterday for what should have been a straightforward series of meetings with Chinese officials to put the final touches to President Clinton's historic China visit from June 25th to July 2nd.
But the US-China summit has been overshadowed by the nuclear arms race on the Indian sub-continent, and soured by rising domestic criticism over President Clinton's China policy. Mr Berger's task is suddenly fraught with difficulties. The US official will also have to deal with the thorny issue of a planned official welcome for Mr Clinton in Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing. Critics in the US have raised concerns about the president attending such a ceremony at the scene of the crackdown on pro-democracy students nine years ago. The White House spokesman, Mr Mike McCurry, eager that the welcome event should not dominate news coverage, said in Washington that it would be raised but would not top Mr Berger's agenda.
Most of the president's itinerary has in fact by now been finalised. Mr Clinton will fly from Washington to the ancient capital of Xian, home of the terracotta warriors, arriving on June 25th. He will spend four days in Beijing, including a side trip to the Motorola factory in Tianjin, and then go to Shanghai on June 29th where he will visit the stock exchange before heading to Hong Kong. US officials have also planned a visit to a remote rural village, where grass roots democratic elections have taken place. For a few days last week Mr Clinton came under pressure from Congress members, including the House Speaker, Mr Newt Gingrich, to call the visit off because of the serious domestic political furore over campaign contributions - since returned - which were traced back to the Chinese military.
The scandal has made White House officials rethink some of the `fun' aspects originally planned for the trip, such as a drop-by to a MacDonalds and family-type events with Mrs Hillary Clinton and daughter Chelsea, such as Chelsea watching a production of the Chinese version of Sesame Street. The trip may now be much more sombre in tone to deflect any accusations of frivolity. "Chinagate" has also re-opened the debate in the US between supporters of "constructive engagement" with China, of which Mr Clinton has been the leading proponent since 1994, and "containment". The president said last week it would be a mistake to cancel the summit and argued that the US partnership with China had yielded results in political and human rights and in stopping the transfer of missile technology to third countries (such as Iran and Pakistan). The detonation of nuclear devices by India and Pakistan will inevitably be at the top of the agenda when Chinese officials meet Mr Berger, who is the senior White House expert on non-proliferation issues. India has accused China of supplying Pakistan with nuclear and missile technology, which Beijing denies. The crisis prompted the first use last Tuesday by Mr Clinton of the hot line to the Chinese President, Mr Jiang Zemin, installed after Mr Jiang's Washington trip in October.
In its first account of the call yesterday, the Chinese news agency Xinhua said they "maintained that the international community should make concerted efforts to bring peace, security and stability to the South Asian region", and "agreed to work harder to promote the realisation of the nuclear-weapons-free goal in south Asia." Mr Berger is also expected to discuss China's human rights record and its bid to join the World Trade Organisation. Beijing has finessed the first topic by releasing the two most prominent dissidents, Mr Wei Jingsheng and Mr Wang Dan, into exile in recent months. Against that is the fact that Asia's financial crisis and the nuclear arms race on the sub-continent have underlined how pivotal China has become as a regional power. A good result for the engagement approach, the bedrock of US policy, would be co-operation between the US and China in closing down the India-Pakistan arms race, just as the two powers have worked together to prevent North Korea getting the atomic bomb. The Chinese determination not to devalue its currency has also contributed to regional stability and prevented a new competitive spiral of devaluations which could threaten the global economy.