DESPITE the shadow cast over his trip by allegations that China secretly helped to fund President Clinton's re election campaign, Vice President Al Gore concluded a "positive" and "friendly" round of top level meetings in Beijing yesterday with an announcement that President Jiang Zemin will visit the United States in the autumn.
A Sino US summit in Washington later this year has been rumoured for months, but Mr Gore's visit has apparently given the necessary boost to the long strained relationship between the United States and China for the two sides to begin setting specific dates. Mr Clinton expects to visit China in turn early next year.
"Our discussions were productive, friendly, searching and above all wide ranging," Mr Gore said after meeting Mr Jiang yesterday and Premier Li Peng and other officials on Tuesday.
He told a press conference last night that the question of campaign contributions had been raised first in his talks by Mr Li, who strenuously denied that China tried to influence US policy by channelling funds through Asian businessmen to the Democratic Party and individual Congress members.
Asked by a reporter if he believed the denials, Mr Gore said: "I am not in a position to judge." He added: "I said that the United States views these allegations as very serious. However, they are the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation by our Justice Department.
The agreement on summit meetings means the consigning to history by the American side of the event which caused an eight year strain in Washington Beijing relations - the crushing of the student led pro democracy movement in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Ironically this comes at a time when domestic rumblings are being heard against the Beijing leadership, with reports of a challenge being mounted in party ranks to the "leadership with Jiang Zemin at the core", specifically over the Tiananmen incident.
Two Hong Kong newspapers last week published the text of an alleged letter from Mr Zhao Ziyang, former general secretary of the communist party, calling the handling of the 1989 events a "mistake" and criticising the official media's characterisation of the leadership "with Jiang Zemin at the core" as contrary to the teaching of Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader who died in February.
Mr Zhao, ousted for backing student demands in 1989, is forbidden to travel or give press interviews, and the letter has been described as a fabrication in a party circular to high-ranking cadres, according to the South China Morning Post.
But American policy is determined by the belief that the Chinese leadership is secure and that benefits in trade, human rights, non proliferation of nuclear weapons and the environment will flow from engagement with Beijing. Mr Gore pointedly praised recent village elections in China and said officials had told him they were a forerunner to democratic county elections which would enhance the legitimacy of the ruling party.
The issue of human rights has been relegated from number one to just another agenda item in the warming US Chinese contacts. However, Mr Gore told the press conference that on human rights "we seek real progress, not confrontation."
"I raised at each meeting the need for political freedom here in China," said the US vice president. He said the response to his concerns about human rights was less negative than on previous occasions. Both sides were deepening their relationship which provided more opportunities to raise the issues.
Mr Gore said he mentioned individuals imprisoned in China but refused to name them as this could be counter productive. The US State Department said in January Beijing had effectively silenced dissent by imprisoning or exiling opposition voices.
In a speech at Qinghua University yesterday, Mr Gore told students, who normally have no access to pro democracy views from the West, that Americans "believe the freedom to inquiry and debate, and when necessary to challenge existing institutions and habits of thought", is the key to creating a fair and just world. "We also believe that economic freedoms and political freedoms ultimately are linked," he said.
Mr Gore, who today goes to see the terracotta warriors in Xian and then concludes his four day visit by touring Shanghai, said the United States expected China to live up to its commitments on Hong Kong after the transfer of power on July 1st.