Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE= 07/15/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE= CHINA RUSSIA SUMMIT (L)

NUMBER=2-278240

BYLINE=LARRY JAMES

DATELINE=MOSCOW

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Chinese President Jiang Zemin is due in Moscow today (Sunday) for a summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. As Larry James reports from the Russian capital the two are to sign a friendship agreement that has raised concerns in Washington about a new strategic partnership between Moscow and Beijing.

TEXT: Over the next four days, Mr. Jiang will meet with President Vladimir Putin and other prominent Russian leaders for meetings that are to set the basis for a new relations between the two countries.

On Monday, Russia and China are set to sign a friendship and cooperation pact, the first major treaty between them since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Although the treaty is considered here as relatively bland, consisting of little more than declarations of friendship and cooperation in the new century, it has raised some unease in Washington. China has said the pact has no military implications, and the United States should not view it as a strategic threat.

Just last week, President Jiang told Russian news agencies that China's ties with the United States are improving, after a difficult period marked by a recent collision between a U-S spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet. Despite the fallout from the crash, Mr. Jiang said recent contacts with the United States, including a telephone call from President Bush, show what he called positive changes.

Chinese-Russian opposition to U-S deployment of a missile defense system is also on the agenda. Both countries claim such a system would violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

President Jiang's visit to Moscow comes two days after the International Olympic Committee met here and selected Beijing as host city for the 2008 Summer Olympics. President Jiang is no newcomer to Russia. He was sent here in 1955 to work for a year as an electrical engineer. He speaks some Russian.

Following President Jiang's visit to Russia, he will travel to Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and Malta.

NEB/LDJ/PFH