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U.S. Can Build More Stable, Constructive Ties With China: Powell
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said in Washington on Friday that the United States, instead of seeking enmity with China, is willing to advance a more stable and constructive relationship with that "important and powerful" country that has been transformed enormously through the opening up and economic reform.
Speaking at a special State Department news briefing about his upcoming five-nation Asian-Pacific trip including China, Powell said that he wants to meet with "the prominent principal leaders" in Beijing for talks on, among many other things, President George W. Bush's forthcoming visit to China this fall.
"I head to China confident that we can build a more stable, more constructive relationship with the Chinese," said Powell, who is scheduled to visit Beijing on July 28-29 in his first Asian- Pacific tour since taking office. The trip will also take him to Japan, Vietnam, South Korea and Australia.
Powell pointed out that the "tremendous transformation" brought about by China's policy of opening up and economic reform provides "the foundation" for U.S.-China relationship.
"I see China as an important and powerful country that is going through a transformation... They have liberalized quite a bit in the last 20 or 30 years in ways we couldn't have imagined 20 or 30 years ago with respect to the society and the openness into the society," he said.
Powell pledged that the United States will work with China as the country stays on the course of reform and as it joins world institutions and adopts global standards in trade and economic conduct.
"I'm looking forward to making it absolutely clear to the Chinese leaders that we're looking for a better relationship. The United States is not seeking enmity with China," he said.
Powell said that it is not "shocking or surprising" to see that the Chinese military modernizes and transforms itself and spends some of its newfound wealth for that purpose.
"We encourage Chinese military leaders to talk to our military leaders so we have a better understanding of the nature of that transformation, and it would be very useful if we had more transparency into what the both sides are doing, and in that way have some confidence in the security relationship between the two of us," he added.
"I do not yet see efforts on the part of the Chinese military to transform themselves in a way that we should see them as a potential enemy," he said.
Powell said that he will talk in a "candid" way with the Chinese leaders on "proliferation, human rights and religious freedom," issues the two countries see quite differently. But the talks, he added, should benefit the two nations "which are on a path to even better friendly relations than exist now."
The Sino-U.S. relations have been steadily recovering since Chinese President Jiang Zemin and U.S. President Bush exchanged views on the phone not long ago after the two countries solved the EP-3 incident, in which a Chinese fighter jet was bumped by an American reconnaissance plane near China's Hainan Island in April, causing the loss of a Chinese pilot as well as his plane.
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