Albright off to woo Asian giants

“Clearly the priority issues will remain human rights, non-proliferation, and trade,” said a senior US official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“We’ve never stated that the release of one or two dissidents checks thebox, that that’s the end of human rights concerns in China. We have many ongoing human rights concerns with China,” he said.

“We’ll also give considerable attention to energy and the environment and climate change issues in general,” he said, adding that Albright would also hold strategic talks with Chinese officials on global issues.

On Sunday, China released and expelled to the United States Wang Dan, 29, a leader of the 1989 pro-democracy movement that ended in a violent military crackdown. Wang’s freedom came less than six months after Beijing’s expulsion of Wei Jingsheng, a former electrician viewed as the father of China’s pro-democracy movement. Albright will meet in Beijing with her new Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, as well as his predecessor, Vice Premier Qian Qichen, the official said.

The release of Wei and Wang, along with China’s assurances that it is winding down its nuclear cooperation with Iran, coincide with and further a sharp improvement in Sino-US ties.China’s announcement this year that it would sign a key convention on civil rights also persuaded the United States not to co-sponsor a resolution condemning Beijing’s abuses at the UN Human Rights Commission.

From 1995-96, bilateral relations slid to their lowest point in two decades after a US visit by the President of Taiwan, the tiny, self-governing island over which China still claims sovereignty.

Now, with Clinton’s trip expected in late June, administration officials suggest he might during that visit lift some of the remaining US sanctions imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.