President Jiang Zemin of China left yesterday for a fencemending visit to the US amid signs the two sides were close to an agreement that would allow sales of US nuclear reactors to Beijing.
Mr Jiang's special Air China jumbo jet left Beijing's Capital Airport for the flight to Hawaii, where he later began the first leg of his eight-day state visit.
In a farewell ceremony in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, Mr Jiang shook hands with the US charge d'affaires, Mr William McCahill, as well as the Prime Minister, Mr Li Peng, and other members of the Communist Party Politburo.
Mr Jiang, who also heads the ruling Communist Party and the military, will be the first Chinese leader to make a state visit to the US since 1985.
His visit is the culmination of strenuous diplomatic efforts by both sides during the past year to improve relations battered by disputes ranging from differences over Taiwan to human rights, trade and nuclear proliferation.
Soothing comments by President Clinton and Mr Jiang in the past two days indicated both sides now want to stress shared interests.
Signs emerged at the weekend that an agreement on nuclear technology could be the centrepiece of the Sino-US summit.
Washington and Beijing were close to an accord for Beijing to end nuclear co-operation with Iran and hoped to complete it in time for Mr Jiang's summit with Mr Clinton on Wednesday, US officials said.
Once the deal is completed, and officials were optimistic it would be, Mr Clinton would then be able to approve the first export of advanced US nuclear reactor technology to China.
Washington has been pressing China to no longer help Iran in developing its nuclear power programme and to stop sales of antiship cruise missiles to Tehran.
China, too, is eager to iron out this obstacle to sales, seeing purchases of nuclear reactor technology as a way to narrow its ballooning trade surplus with the US.
On the eve of his visit, Mr Jiang on Saturday offered a concession on human rights, saying he had authorised China's UN envoy to sign the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, obliging China to protect citizens from discrimination.
Beijing has still not committed itself to a similar UN covenant on freedoms of speech, religion and assembly.
Mr Jiang welcomed comments by Mr Clinton on Friday, who declared that the US was seeking cooperation, not conflict, with China. Mr Clinton, nevertheless, vowed to bring up human rights during next Wednesday's summit.
A prominent Chinese dissident, Mr Bao Ge, yesterday called for the release of jailed dissidents as a gesture to coincide with Mr Jiang's trip, saying the government was violating the free speech rights of a dozen activists serving jail terms for their political views.