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President Jiang Optimistic about Sino-US Relations: NY Times
Jiang Zemin Meets US Guests
Chinese President Jiang Zemin said he was optimistic about Sino-US relations and about getting along with US President George W. Bush.
"Both sides share a positive desire for a good relationship," Jiang, 75, said in an interview published on Friday in The New York Times (NYT).
"We should try our best to find the common ground between us," he told the daily on Wednesday, speaking from the Chinese resort town of Beidaihe.
Jiang said he hoped Bush's visit to China in October would advance friendly ties, adding: "For two such big countries, it would be strange if they had no disagreements at all."
On a personal level, Jiang said that from a single telephone conversation he had with Bush last month, "I could feel that he was a president I could do business with."
Jiang said he had a long and friendly acquaintance with Bush's father, the former US president, and his mother Barbara.
The Chinese president suggested foreigners did not understand China's goals and its determination to adapt Communist rule to changing society rather than scrap it altogether.
"I lived for three-fourths of the last century," he said, "and I can tell you with certainty -- should China apply the parliamentary democracy of the Western world, the only result will be that 1.2 billion Chinese people will not have enough food to eat.
"The result will be great chaos, and should that happen, it will not be conducive to world peace and stability," he added.
On Taiwan, Jiang made it clear that Beijing would never negotiate the island's formal status as part of China.
He warned that if the United States insisted on selling more advanced weapons to Taiwan "it would be very dangerous", and added that China would never renounce the use of force should Taiwan move toward independence.
Jiang also warned that if China perceived Washington's proposed national missile defence shield as negating China's small force of nuclear missiles, it would "would keep an appropriate number of forces to meet our defense needs".
He was optimistic about China's long-term economic outlook but acknowledged the social strains of unemployment as failing state industries streamlined their operations.
Jiang said he felt confident the next generation of party leaders would continue his general approach of opening the economy and stick to the leadership of the Communist Party to protect national unity.
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