U.S and China friendlier, but not 'partners'

Human rights gets lower priority

The friendly words, during a speech to students at Fudan University, were a far cry from the policy President Clinton espoused as he took office four years ago, after campaigning against what he termed Republican coddling of Chinese dictators.

Washington has given the once-dominant issue of human rights in China a much lower priority. While citing the need for all nations to abide by the U.N.'s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Christopher then softened his message, saying "each nation must find its own path."

Profound differences -- including over human rights and Taiwan -- must not be allowed to "undermine our ability to achieve common goals," Christopher told an audience of students, faculty and local Chinese officials.

Christopher's spokesman called the speech a turning point. "This is the first time we are saying publicly that the future of the relationship is not adversarial, not rivalry... it's partnership," Nicholas Burns told reporters.

'Partnership' nixed

However, there appears to have been a dispute among Christopher's top aides over how to present the Shanghai visit. The word "partnership" to describe U.S - China ties was left out of the speech because Washington officials -- with Christopher said to be among them -- decided the still fragile relationship had not reached that point.

In fact, the banner that provided the backdrop for Christopher's address was repainted overnight to remove "partnership" and replace it with the words "a new era of cooperation".

After the speech, Christopher had lunch with Shanghai's mayor. Stopping in the city's old colonial district, the secretary tried to shake hands with some of the people there but police kept them away.

McDonald's T-shirt

Seeing Shanghai's bustling economy first-hand, Christopher stopped to buy a collection of speeches by U.S. presidents and was given a McDonalds T-shirt outside one of the chain's restaurants.

Christopher flew to Shanghai for a one-day stop after talks on Wednesday with senior Chinese officials in Beijing intended to ensure shaky Sino-American ties are back on track.

One significant gain for Beijing was Washington's willingness to consider cooperation in nuclear technology despite lingering concerns China would make the know-how available to other countries.

China's assistance to Iran and Pakistan, for example, has long blocked its access to the technology it wants to spur its nuclear power industry.

For its part, China agreed to regular meetings on arms proliferation. But Beijing made clear that, as far as it was concerned, the main such issue is U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.