The Hindu : 'Sino-U.S. ties on verge of setback'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 29, 2002

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International

'Sino-U.S. ties on verge of setback'

BEIJING March 28. A month after the U.S. President, George W. Bush, visited Beijing, Chinese media said the United States had shattered the euphoria that surrounded his trip with a series of insensitive and offensive moves. ``Here we are on the verge of another setback in Sino-U.S. ties,'' the China Daily said in an editorial today.

``Beijing feels betrayed.''

The editorial reflects a turnaround in China's rhetoric on the United States since the Bush visit, which media just weeks ago hailed as bringing relations closer than ever.

Topping the list of China's concerns was the U.S. decision this month to allow the Taiwanese Defence Minister, Tang Yiau-ming, into the U.S. for talks with defence officials. China regards the island as a renegade province to be reunited with the mainland by force if necessary.

``The current row, unless resolved in a timely and constructive manner, will definitely undermine the already slight Chinese confidence in genuine friendship between the two countries,'' the state-run newspaper said.

Beijing is also upset about a Pentagon report saying China was one of several targets in America's nuclear weapons planning, and ``undisguised attempts'' to bring Taiwan into the World Health Organisation, it said. ``Friendship is out of the question in the absence of reciprocity,'' the editorial said.

The Chinese Vice-President, Hu Jintao, is scheduled to visit the U.S. in April, but the Foreign Ministry, reflecting China's displeasure over the U.S. moves, has declined to confirm that the trip was still on. But political analysts said they would be surprised if Mr. Hu declined the U.S. invitation because of the latest row. ``It would take something much bigger than this,'' said one diplomat in Beijing. The Chinese President and Communist Party chief, Jiang Zemin, and other senior leaders are due to step down from their party posts late this year, and from their Government jobs next March. — Reuters

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