DATE=12/10/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHINA-RUSSIA (L)
NUMBER=2-257019
BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON
DATELINE=BEIJING
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russian President Boris Yeltsin has flown back
to Moscow after a two-day informal summit with his
Chinese counterpart, Jiang Zemin. VOA correspondent
Roger Wilkison reports the two leaders released a
statement decrying what they see as the dominant role
of the United States in world affairs.
TEXT: The joint statement vents Russian and Chinese
rage at the idea that some countries can intervene in
others on humanitarian grounds. It is a clear
reference to NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia to halt the
ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. The document also tackles
what Moscow perceives to be unfair Western criticism
of its military offensive in Chechnya. The statement
says no country can interfere in another sovereign
country's attacks against domestic terrorism. Russia
maintains it is fighting terrorists in the breakaway
region. Western countries say the Russian military
has caused unnecessary civilian casualties.
Smarting from such criticism, Mr. Yeltsin on Thursday
warned President Clinton not to forget that Russia is
a nuclear power and that other countries have no right
to tell Moscow what it can or cannot do in Chechnya.
Even though the joint statement does not mention the
United States, there is no doubt that it is aimed at
Washington. Russia and China accuse certain countries
of putting human rights on a higher plane than
sovereignty. It says those countries seek pretexts
such as humanitarian needs to destroy the sovereignty
of independent countries.
China is the only major country to support the way
Russia is conducting its military campaign in
Chechnya. Beijing can identify with Moscow's battles
against separatists because it has ethnic tensions of
its own in remote Tibet and in the predominantly
Muslim region of Xinjiang. Beijing got Mr. Yeltsin's
support for its claim to Taiwan, which it has vowed to
reunite with the mainland, even if it has to do so by
force.
The two countries also make a critical reference to U-
S efforts to alter a 1972 treaty between Washington
and Moscow that limits missile defense shields as well
as U-S research into a missile shield in the Asia-
Pacific region. But, again, there is no direct
mention of the United States.
Diplomats say that is because neither China nor Russia
is likely to endanger its own ties with Washington, no
matter how much they jointly chafe at what they see as
the preponderant U-S role in the world.
In effect, Chinese officials insist the so-called
strategic partnership Beijing is building with Moscow
is not aimed at any third countries. Still, China and
Russia are closer than they ever have been in recent
years. On Thursday, they signed three agreements they
said formally put an end to a centuries-old border
dispute. (SIGNED)
NEB/RW/FC/PLM
10-Dec-1999 03:25 AM EDT (10-Dec-1999 0825 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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