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Clinton's China visit finds negative echo in US senate

Republican critics of US President Bill Clinton's China policy took their denunciations to the senate floor on the eve of his ten-day tour, although Democratic manoeuvring appeared to win a suspension of hostile votes while he is abroad.

"We're not going to embarrass this president,'' senate minority leader Tom Daschle declared yesterday, as Republicans sought votes on a battery of measures that would place new restrictions on China and technology transfers. By the day's end, though, Republican leaders agreed to postpone a vote on the China amendments until after the trip.

Clinton, meanwhile, spent much of the day holed up in the cabinet room, preparing with briefings by top foreign policy advisers and outside China experts.

White House spokesman Mike McCurry again defended the president's dealings with China and his decision to "engage with this country that contains so many people to see, if by opening to them and opening them to the concepts that we cherish, they might change behaviour over time.''

Clinton denounced as "highly objectionable'' a Chinese decision to withdraw the visas of three Radio Free Asia employees who had planned to cover the president's trip to China and said he hoped the Chinese would reconsider.

House speaker Newt Gingrich wrote to Clinton that he was "gravely concerned,'' calling the Chinese action "censorship pure and simple.''

In the senate, Daschle and fellow Democrats threatened to use procedural techniques to hold up a $ 271 billion defence bill if the Republicans persisted in the amendments.

Republican leaders defended their right to criticise the president regardless of his whereabouts. Despite a divisive debate on China's human rights policies and US technology transfers, they also indicated they might hold some of that fire while he is actually on Chinese soil.

One group of Republican law-makers said they were giving Clinton a flag that has flown over the Capitol and copies of the constitution and declaration of independence to take to China.

Clinton should "make a presentation of them to his hosts on that square (Tiananmen) so that, hopefully, they will learn something about what our nation does stand for and what those students died for,'' said Republican Benjamin Gilman, chairman of the house international relations committee.

Some of the sharpest criticism of Clinton's trip came on the senate floor as China-policy critics tried to attach to the Pentagon spending bill a series of four amendments.

The package of amendments would deny travel visas to Chinese officials involved in religious persecution or forced-abortion policies, ban further US-backed loans to China and modify the US policy on satellite exports.

"Far from embarrassing the president, it is incumbent upon us to strengthen his ability to address human rights issues,'' said Republican senator Tim Hutchinson, sponsor of the amendments.

But Democrats denounced the move as an attempt to embarrass Clinton as he heads to China, saying it violated a bipartisan tradition of not criticising the president when he's abroad.

After the Democrats threatened to use procedural techniques to halt the passage of the bill, majority leader Trent Lott briefly postponed the debate. Later in the day, he announced the agreement to take up the China legislation, separately, after Clinton returns to Washington.

"We should express the senate's concern... Not necessarily while he's there,'' Lott said.

UNI

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