WASHINGTON, May 1 (UPI) -- Two good signs emerged from President George W. Bush's meeting Wednesday with the next leader of China -- the meeting lasted twice as long as the White House had said it would, and the Chinese leader said it was "quite good."
In the closed-mouth manner of the Bush White House foreign policy, little more could be discerned.
Hu Jintao, the 59-year-old Chinese vice president who is expected shortly to receive his country's top post, met Wednesday with Vice President Dick Cheney for talks and lunch, went over the Pentagon where he met with Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and was ushered into a private meeting Bush about 3:45 p.m. Shortly after 4:15 p.m., an affable and smiling Hu came out the White House West Wing doors, took the salute of the U.S. Marine and answered shouted questions of Chinese reporters with a cheery exchange in their native language. The reporters told their American colleagues that Hu had said his meeting with Bush was "quite good."
Later the White House said Bush and Hu discussed the war on terrorism, agricultural issues, Taiwan, missile proliferation, trade and human rights.
President Bush didn't say it was a good meeting, but his press secretary said Bush "noted there may be some disagreements, but he believed they could be addressed productively."
As in Bush's visit to China earlier this spring, Wednesday's meeting has enormous portent for the administration. China's aging President Jiang Zemin will step down in the next two years. This visit will give Bush officials a chance to see his successor close up, though Bush was introduced to Hu in Beijing.
Since the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, the entire U.S. strategic posture in Asia has shifted. U.S. troops are in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and other former Soviet republics in Central Asia, and the United States has formed an operational alliance with Pakistan to destroy the al Qaida and capture it leader, Osama bin Laden.
At the same time, the United States still has 37,000 troops in South Korea and recently sent 1,000 special operations forces to the Philippines to assist the government in tracking down Muslim rebels allegedly connected to al Qaida.
In Beijing, Bush lauded the Chinese for their support of the U.S. war on terrorism.
Bush visited China only weeks after labeling North Korea, long a Chinese client state, one of the "axis of evil" states for developing weapons of mass destruction and marketing them around the world. Bush asked Chinese President Jiang to use his good offices to bring North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to the conference table. Earlier this week, the North Korean government signaled it was ready to open talks.
Harvard China historian Merle Goldman, told Voice of America Wednesday's meeting is of equal importance to Hu. She said Jiang had not appeared to have the rapport with Bush that Hu, only four years Bush's senior, may develop.
"This is important for China to set up a working relationship with the United States," she said.
Human-rights issues and China's treatment of dissidents has often dominated U.S.-Sino relations. Earlier this week, China detained Yang Jianli, a Boston-based activist who returned to China after 13 years. White House aides said the meetings were unlikely to be dominated by Yang's plight, but human-rights issues are sure to come up.
Powell said Tuesday the United States presses the "Chinese on human rights. We press them on proliferation activities. We press them on issues of concern to us, but at the same time, we cooperate with them."
For his part, Hu is expected to bring up U.S. support of Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province. When Bush was questioned by students at a Beijing university during his trip, they pressed him on why the U.S. interferes with Taiwan becoming part of mainland China. The U.S. position is that it has treaty obligations to Taiwan and any change in national status would have to be the choice of the Taiwanese people.
Hu, like many Chinese leaders, is an unknown quantity in the West. He was born in Anhui, one of China's poorest provinces, but was educated at Qinghua, one of the country's best universities. Trained as a hydroelectric engineer, after the Cultural Revolution, he returned to Beijing in 1982 and has worked up in the party and government structure.
Dan Ewing, writing for the conservative Nixon Center, said: "Hu holds firmly to social stability and his past actions may open him to criticism from Western governments. Unlike Jiang, Hu was directly involved in forcibly quelling major social unrest when he presided over a crackdown on a Tibetan uprising in 1988."
Hu also delivered an angry speech about the United States after U.S. bombs mistakenly hit the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. The United States apologized for the error.
