The summit meeting between President Clinton and President Jiang Zemin in Beijing this morning - the high point of Mr Clinton's nine-day visit to China - has been overshadowed by a dispute between the US and China over the detention of dissidents who wanted to meet members of the US delegation.
At 9 o'clock this morning, it was all smiles, as Mr Clinton was officially welcomed on a red carpet at the edge of Tiananmen Square by President Jiang, who introduced him to members of the Chinese leadership in hot sunshine. A 21-gun salute rang out over the square as the national anthems of tow countries were played and the Us president inspected a military guard of honour - only yards away from where pro-democracy demonstrators were killed during the 1989 crackdown by the army. Despite widespread criticism, Mr Clinton agreed to be received in the square as this is routine protocol for visiting leaders.
Four pro-democracy activists were picked up in the central Chinese city of Xi'an before Mr Clinton arrived there from Washington on Thursday evening. Three were released yesterday after the presidential delegation left, but Mr Clinton is said to be upset about the affair and plans to raise it with President Jiang today.
Mr Clinton and his 1,000-strong retinue, travelling in four passenger planes and several C141 military transports, arrived in the Chinese capital just after dusk last night. On the way to a state guest house, their motorcade passed Tiananmen Square, site of the crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators nine years ago. Mr Clinton will be officially greeted by Mr Jiang at the entrance of the Great Hall of the People bordering the square this morning.
Crowds lining the route in the darkness were kept back by police behind grass verges and cycle lanes. They applauded, largely unseen by the occupants of the fleet of limousines speeding by. Mr Clinton is clearly embarrassed about the detention of dissidents, and the prospect that this type of activity will be repeated during the rest of his historic tour of China. The detentions have provided fresh ammunition to the anti-China lobby in the United States, already given reason to criticise the visit by China's withdrawal of visas to three correspondents of Radio Free Asia. The affair has highlighted the potential for the human rights issue to cloud the atmosphere surrounding the most ambitious foreign trip of Mr Clinton's presidency, designed to highlight the benefits of engagement and of a new strategic partnership between Washington and Beijing. White House National Security Adviser, Mr Samuel Berger, said yesterday that on Mr Clinton's instructions, Ambassador James Sasser protested to the Chinese Foreign Ministry but the response "has not been satisfactory".
Earlier, Mr Clinton said he found the reports of detentions "disturbing", adding: "If true, they represent not China at its best and not China looking forward but looking backward." It would not however undermine his policy of engagement with China, he said. "One of the reasons that I came here was to discuss both privately and publicly issues of personal freedom. I think it's very important for me to do that, but I think it makes it all the more important that we continue to work with the Chinese and to engage them." Xi'an-based dissident Yang Hai, a businessman whose detention on Thursday was at the centre of the row, was freed yesterday morning. Mr Yang (29) was expelled from university and jailed for one year for his role in 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in the eastern city of Qingdao. He said police "kidnapped" him on Thursday to stop him from speaking to American television journalists and kept him overnight in a guest house near Xi'an. "Police would not let me go downstairs. One of them said: `If you go downstairs, I'll beat you to death'," Mr Yang told Reuters.
Mr Yang Zhang Jiankang (37), a Xi'an-based human rights lawyer, said police released him at dusk yesterday after detaining him for six hours, also to stop him being interviewed by American journalists. Mr Yang Jun (25), a second dissident, was also freed after detention overnight. Earlier, a foreign ministry spokesman had said: "So-called arrests of dissidents by the Chinese side are rumours spread by people with an axe to grind." He added pointedly: "We are opposed to any foreign country using the human rights issue as a pretext to interfere in China's internal affairs."
A US human rights group alleged yesterday that authorities arrested an underground Roman Catholic bishop, Dr Julias Jia Zhiguo, in northern Hebei province in the past few days.
Mr Clinton, his wife Hillary and daughter Chelsea yesterday took a break from politics and visited the terracotta warriors of Emperor Qin Shihuang near Xi'an. They were allowed to descend from a viewing platform and mingle with some of the 2,224 pottery warriors and 96 terracotta horses. Chinese peasants stumbled on the terracotta army, one of the most spectacular archaeological finds of the 20th century, while digging for a well in 1974.