THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 1, 1996 TAG: 9602010319
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: SHANGHAI, CHINA LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
As the warship Fort McHenry inched its way toward a warehouse pier shortly after noon Wednesday, its steel-gray hull gently brushing past clumps of garbage floating on the Huangpu River, a Chinese brass band struck up a tune: ``Welcome the Guests.''
It is an odd time for an American naval vessel to visit China's largest city. On Tuesday, in one of the latest examples of strained ties between Washington and Beijing, a Foreign Ministry spokesman criticized the United States for an incident last month in which an American aircraft carrier passed through the strait that separates Taiwan from the mainland.
American military personnel said Wednesday that the trip was routine. But Chinese leaders clearly interpreted it as something more.
U.S.-China relations are as tense as they have been in decades, an atmosphere hardly conducive to the meetings between senior officers and the spirit of cooperation that normally exists on these visits.
The troubled triangle of diplomacy among Beijing, Washington and Taipei has prompted threats from China about a possible military confrontation, and the rumbling gets louder every day.
Strained as ties are, China's military apparently decided that they were not so bad that the visit by the Americans, long in the works, need be aborted.
The McHenry's sailors and Marines, meanwhile, have been instructed to play it safe on the political front.
Pfc. Nathan Cobb, dressed in full camouflage to greet Chinese visitors to the ship, said the McHenry's sailors and Marines were indeed briefed on how to respond to queries about touchy political subjects.
With blue eyes peering from streaks of green face paint, he said: ``We've been told to just pretty much avoid the subject.'' MEMO: This story was compiled from reports by The New York Times and The Los
Angeles Times.
ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Aboard the dock landing ship Fort McHenry on Wednesday, Lance Cpl.
Joshua Jarrell, left, of Hagerstown, Md., and other crew members get
an early look at Shanghai.
by CNB