Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, November 20, 1993                   TAG: 9311200143
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SEATTLE                                LENGTH: Medium

CLINTON URGES CLOSER TIES WITH CHINA

Joined by Asian leaders, Clinton prodded reluctant Europeans to break a logjam in world trade talks.

In a speech to organizers of the annual meeting of the 17-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, Clinton signaled a shift in Washington's post-Cold War economic priorities from a sluggish Europe to a booming Asia.

"We must look across the Pacific as well as the Atlantic," he said. "We must engage the world's fastest-growing economies."

The Pacific Rim leaders represent about half of the world's economic output. The conference is the first time so many Asian heads of state have met.

The centerpiece of Clinton's agenda was a meeting with Chinese President Jiang Zemin, the highest-level contact between the nations since before the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

When a reporter asked Jiang if he would give Clinton any guarantees on human rights or stopping missile proliferation, the Chinese leader said, "When the leaders of two of the largest countries in the world get together, we should talk about bigger problems."

Clinton said he wasn't softening the U.S. position toward Beijing. "Our policy is to try to engage China but to be very firm with the human-rights issues, to be very firm on the weapons-proliferation issues," he said. "But there are 1.2 billion people in China and we don't believe we can achieve our objectives within the context of complete isolation."

The president's goal was to arrest the worsening of relations, strained by disputes over human rights, arms sales and trade.