960417

China mulls

tougher policy

toward United States

BEIJING: China's hawks and doves are debating behind closed doors whether to toughen Beijing's policy towards Washington in the post-Cold War era, analysts said on Wednesday.

The hardline conservative camp sees an imperialist United States trying to contain Beijing, Chinese analysts and Western diplomats said.

The conservatives believe Washington fears an economically and militarily strong China that could eventually rival the United States, they said.

A more pragmatic camp says it remains to be seen whether the United States is really out to contain China. The pragmatists are eager to improve bilateral ties which they argue are mutually beneficial.

"It is hard to say which side has gained the upper hand," a Chinese academic familiar with government policy towards the United States said in a telephone interview.

"But the voice of the conservative camp is getting louder and louder," said the academic, who asked not to be identified.

China has criticised U.S. media for suggesting Beijing's growing military power poses a threat to the region and that it needs to be contained.

The fears of China's neighbours were fuelled when the People's Liberation Army held a series of missile tests and war games off rival Taiwan in the run-up to the island's first direct presidential elections last month.

Beijing flexed its military muscles to spread fear on the island, which it regards as a rebel province, hoping Taiwanese would abandon any dreams of independence.

"After the Taiwan incident, we still don't know what to make out of U.S. troops based (in Asia). It's still being debated," the academic said.

The huge U.S. military presence in Japan had been a welcome stabilising force for Asia during the Cold War era, but China now sees itself as the main target of military cooperation between Tokyo and Washington.

"There's a strong feeling now that a U.S.-Japan alliance is mainly targeted at China in the post-Cold War era," a Chinese expert on Asian affairs said.

Tokyo had in the past been reluctant to criticise Beijing, apparently to atone for its aggression against China from 1937 to 1945. But Japan's policy towards China was getting tougher, the expert noted.

In August, shortly after China detonated its second nuclear device for 1995, Tokyo announced a retaliatory freeze on grant aid to China.

Tokyo's move was largely symbolic because it has said it would not touch huge yen-loan packages, which form the bulk of its financial aid to China. But China was still unhappy, calling the freeze unfriendly and undesirable.

"Japan is becoming more and more like Western countries," the expert said. "Psychologically, Japan has become more cautious of and on guard against China."

U.S. President Bill Clinton and Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto signed a joint declaration on Tuesday reaffirming their strong security and other ties and pledging that American troop strength in Asia, including Japan, would be maintained at present levels.

A Western diplomat disagreed that Beijing saw the U.S. military presence in Japan as targeting China.

"It's been there for a long time...It's there due to historical reasons and unlikely to be reduced to zero in a hurry," he said.

The diplomat said China still felt more comfortable with the U.S. military presence in Japan than with the prospect of starting an arms race in Asia to fill the vacuum left by a U.S. troop withdrawal.

"China, like a lot of other countries in the region, would be cautious against any military build-up by the Japanese," the diplomat said in a telephone interview.

Nevertheless, the role of U.S. bases in Japan in the future may put the Japanese in a difficult position.

Commenting on possible use of civilian airports in Japan by U.S. troops, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said: "We hope defence arrangements between the United States and Japan would not exceed their scope."

"We hope...(it) would not bring complicated factors to the stable situation in Asia," the spokesman said by telephone.-Reuter