Week of July 7, 2000

SUMMARY: Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Russia President Vladimir Putin, and their counterparts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikstan met this week in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe to discuss the volatile security environment of the Central Asian region. The five nations are members of a group called the "Shanghai Five," set up in 1996 to tackle Sino-Soviet border issues affecting all parties, but more recently focusing on issues terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism.

Afghanistan and the ruling Afgha Taleban militia is considered the main source of instability around the region. China is primarily concerned about separatism among Muslem Uighurs in western Xinjiang province, which Central Asian states, and Russia is currently fighting separatism in Chechnya.

Aside from regional security issues, the summit will allow presidents Jiang and Putin to talk about the "strategic partnership" between China and Russia, specifically about how to counter the United States?proposal for implementing National Missile Defense (NMD) which both nations fear would upset the global balance of nuclear power. Both nations are strongly against U.S. proposals and claim it violates the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty. China says that if the United States continues with plans for NMD it will be forced to increase its arsenal of weapons.

SUMMARY: An American delegation led by John Holum, senior advisor to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, will meet with Vice Foreign Minister Wang Guangya and other Chinese officials to resume arms control talks, suspended for over a year after the U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade during May 1999. The talks, coming after a recent trip to China by Albright, symbolize a near complete restoration to normalcy of Sino-U.S. ties since the bombing. The U.S. side is expected to raise weapons proliferation concerns and regional security concerns, while the Chinese side is expected to bring-up its strong opposition to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, U.S. plans for National Missile Defense (NMD) and Theater Missile Defense (TMD), all which anger Chinese leaders in Beijing who believe they embolden the Taiwanese

SUMMARY: Results by a recent poll of Hong Kong residents conducted by the Democratic Party, the de facto opposition political group, show that a majority of Hong Kong residents were happier with Colonial British rule than the current leadership of the Chinese Communist backed government headed by Tung Chee-hwa. According to the poll, 60 percent of respondents said the performance of the current administration was worse than that of the British. Half of the respondents said that Govenor Tung should not serve a second term upon expiration in two years. Only a fifth said he should continue to serve a second term.

SUMMARY: The Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Leader who lives in exile in Northern India and travels extensively sharing his message about the plight of fellow Tibetans, delivered a speech in Washington DC on July 3 as a part of the Smithsonian exhibit on Tibetan folk culture. In his hour-long speech, he discussed Buddhist teachings, focusing on the illusions of material wealth and power, and the positive role of hope and generosity in achieving true happiness. Specifically, he addressed his audience about the economic disparities of the nation’s capital and the political and social challenges that faced the United States. However, the Dalai Lama did not speak directly about the conditions faced by Tibetans in Tibet, which has been a part of China since it was taken over 50 years ago. Instead, he spoke in general terms about compassion and goodness in overcoming difficulty. Chinese leaders have objected strongly to the current Smithsonian exhibit and the Dalai Lama’s participation events association with the exhibits.

SUMMARY: As many countries contend with higher oil prices, China has also begun to contemplate its need to import more oil, despite that fact it is ranked fifth in the world in oil output. Since the end of 1999, China has found 20.3 billion tons of oil resources. However, according to sources from the State Petroleum and Chemical Administration it still needs large amounts of oil from abroad due to it high oil consumption. In fact officials report that China’s oil imports could account for around 40 percent of the total oil consumption by the year 2010. Therefore, sources said that China will attempt to increase it annual oil and gas output up to 300 million tons by 2010. This will be accomplished by developing numerous oil and gas fields in the Songliao Basin.

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The U.S. and China This Week

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Last updated: 14 July 2000