After a nine-day tour of China and an extended dialogue with Chinese leaders and people, President Clinton yesterday predicted that the world's most populous nation would eventually become a democracy and praised President Jiang Zemin as a man of imagination, vision and vigour who could give China the right leadership to bring about change.
Mr Clinton, his wife, Hillary, daughter, Chelsea, and a 1,000strong entourage of officials and media left Hong Kong last night for the 16-hour flight to Washington in time for July 4th celebrations.
Winding up what is probably the most important visit to China by an American president since Richard Nixon's visit in 1972, Mr Clinton defended his policy of engagement and called for more releases of jailed dissidents.
At a packed press conference in Hong Kong's Hyatt Hotel, the US leader appealed to the Chinese government to set free the 150 or so people still serving sentences for non-violent offences relating to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and other dissidents imprisoned under a law which had been scrapped outlawing counterrevolutionary activities.
"Clearly China is changing, but there remain powerful forces resisting change, as evidenced by continuing governmental restrictions on free speech, assembly and freedom of worship," he said. "One of the questions I have tried to frame on this trip for the future is how do we deal with these issues in a way most likely to promote progress. The answer I think is clear: dealing directly, forcefully but respectfully with the Chinese about our values."
He defended his policy of constructive engagement with China, saying his visit - the first by a US president since 1989 - was worthwhile, despite the lack of major achievements, as it put Sino-US ties "on a much more positive and productive footing".
On trade issues he regretted there was little progress in reaching an agreement that would gain greater access to Chinese markets for US businesses in exchange for American support for China's entry into the World Trade Organisation but said he had a better understanding of the difficulties the Chinese faced in modernising their economy.
Mr Clinton praised the 71-yearold Chinese President, Mr Jiang Zemin, and the Chinese Premier, Mr Zhu Rongji, as capable of encouraging more democratic reforms. "What I would like to see is the present government headed by this President and this Premier, who are clearly committed to reform, ride the wave of change and take China fully into the 21st century and basically dismantle the resistance to it," he declared, adding that he had regard for President Jiang's abilities.
"I remember not so many years ago the conventional wisdom was that he might be a transitional figure," he said. However, after meeting him he thought he could be a leader for a sustained period "because he's a man of extraordinary intellect, very high energy and a lot of vigour for his age, or indeed for any age. He has a good imagination, he has vision, he can visualise, he can imagine a future that is different from the present."
He said he believed that "there's a very good chance that China has the right leadership at the right time, and that they understand the daunting massive nature of the challenges they face. They want us to understand that there is much more personal freedom now that there was when President Nixon came here [in 1972] or 10 years ago."
But to avoid "wild swings" in society as happened in China in the last 50 years there had to be an institutional way for people to air their grievances. Asked if he believed there ever could be democracy in China he replied: "Not only do I believe there can be, I believe there will be."
He added: "I think the next big step would be to look at whether there could be some expedited process to review the sentences of whole categories of people, because that would tend to show a change in policy rather than just the product of negotiations with the Americans."
The President said he believed Mr Jiang's denial that China illegally tried to influence the 1996 US elections and asked him to cooperate with US investigations of the matter.
Mr Clinton earlier met members of Hong Kong's Legislative Council, including the leader of the Democratic Party, Mr Martin Lee. He allowed himself to be photographed standing beside Mr Lee, a harsh critic of Beijing, but the media were excluded when they held a later private conversation.
While on the Chinese mainland Mr Clinton refused to meet dissidents. Nevertheless, he won high praise from Mr Lee for making the visit and from China's tiny opposition. Mr Zhu Yufu, a dissident in the eastern city of Hangzhou who was detained for 47 hours by police this week, said: "Clinton's visit was like a gust of fresh wind that blew towards us. When there's wind blowing, there will be changes. Mould will die."
Mr Clinton, his wife and their Secret Service agents were stuck in a lift yesterday for about 10 minutes at Hong Kong's convention centre, White House officials said. The US President had just finished giving a speech to business leaders and was going down when the doors jammed. Secret Service agents were able to pry them open. The incident was caused by a computer affected by lightning.