Word: summiteer
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Jiang Zemin had an appointment with Bill Clinton at the White House last Tuesday night to talk about some of the touchier items on the agenda for the next day's summit meeting. But before that, to prep the visiting Chinese President for the private session, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright dropped by to see him at Blair House, the government's guest quarters. She warned Jiang that Clinton was going to push human rights very strongly that night. The U.S. press and public would judge Jiang on what he had to say on the issue, she said. "That...
...handling of crusty, hidebound communist leaders is almost a lost art in Washington, and the Clinton Administration tried hard to get it right with Jiang, the first Chinese head of state to visit in 12 years. Clinton did not want the summit to appear too cozy to domestic audiences, and he did not want Jiang simply to soak up the glory and prestige the ceremonies in Washington would provide him. The top man in a one-party dictatorship is never going to be America's cup of tea, and relations cannot be normal until the regime's brutality...
ATMOSPHERICS. Far more than those old get-togethers with the Soviets, this is a summit about perceptions, where the meeting itself is the message. The Chinese are already packaging it as the second normalization of Sino-American relations. To confirm that, Jiang wants to be accorded status and respect, the treatment due the leader of a great nation, signifying not only the end of the opprobrium China has endured since Tiananmen Square but also its emergence as the 21st century's other great power. So Jiang's handlers have been acutely concerned to ensure that his trip conforms exactly...
...Wang Dan, some sign of religious freedom, a credible retreat on prison labor. But berating Beijing on human rights only injures its sense of sovereignty and challenges the regime's legitimacy. Jiang has given little indication that he is willing to do any of those things for the summit's sake, and China experts say he is especially loath to be seen on foreign soil giving in to U.S. pressure. Nor does he want to be upstaged in the press by any freed dissidents...
...guidance systems and high-speed computers that China covets for economic development. But Beijing has a history of ignoring the spirit, if not the letter, of its commitments, and Clinton has demanded unequivocal, airtight assurances before he does a deal. Officials seem hopeful, though, that this could be the summit's chief tangible accomplishment...