China-US rights dialogue to resume

No date has been set for new human rights talks

The United States says China has agreed in principle to resume a dialogue on human rights issues.

China - which has long been criticised for its human rights record - broke off talks with Washington last year in retaliation for Nato's bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.

President Jiang agreed that he thought that dialogue would be a useful way to go

US State Department official, Stan Roth

The announcement came after a meeting between the US and Chinese presidents at the end of the annual summit of Asian and Pacific leaders in Brunei.

A US State Department official said the Chinese President, Jiang Zemin, had agreed to President Clinton's suggestion that a resumption in the dialogue on human rights would be helpful.

But Stan Roth, the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said no date had yet been decided for talks.

"I would describe it as an agreement in principle, rather than a specific agreement that the dialogue would be resumed at a specific date," Mr Roth said.

Missile exports

He said the two leaders also made some progress on US concerns over Beijing's missile exports.

President Jiang said he hoped Mr Clinton would maintain his interest in China

After the two leaders met, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official voiced appeciation for Mr Clinton's efforts to improve relations during his time in the White House.

The official said that President Jiang also "expressed his hope that President Clinton after he leaves office will continue to have a keen interest and support the development of China-US relations.

Relations hit a low in April 1999, after US aircraft bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, during the Kosovo crisis.

But Mr Roth said the bombing of the Chinese embassy "did not come up in any context" during the meeting.

Dramatic improvement

The Assistant Secretary of State said that both sides agreed that US-China relations had improved dramatically.

But he said that there were still important disagreements between them - notably on Taiwan, Tibet and religious freedoms.

Relations soured after the bombing of the Belgrade embassy

China has objected to US arms sales to Taiwan, which it regards as a renegade province.

The announcement came as China's Foreign Ministry attacked a US newspaper for publishing new allegations that Beijing spied on American nuclear secrets in the 1990s.

The Washington Times recently carried reports that China had up to 37 spies passing on sensitive US defence secrets, some of them in key positions.

A spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry said the allegations were sheer fabrications intended to damage relations, and accused some people of clinging to what he called a Cold War mentality.

Last year a Taiwanese-born scientist, Wen Ho Lee, was arrested on suspicion of passing American nuclear secrets to China.

He was released in a deal with US law enforcement authorities, after admitting a relatively minor charge of downloading nuclear plans onto a non-secure computer.