DATE=4/11/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHINA-U-S (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261159
BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON
DATELINE=BEIJING
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:


INTRO:  China says it is ready to resume a bilateral 
dialogue with the United States on weapons 
proliferation that was suspended after NATO bombed the 
Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia last year.  But, as VOA 
correspondent Roger Wilkison reports, Beijing is still 
insisting that Washington give it what it calls a 
satisfactory explanation of the attack.


TEXT: Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi says 
China and the United States are currently conducting 
consultations on how to resume the bilateral dialogue 
on arms proliferation.  Speaking through an 
interpreter, he says the resumption of such talks was 
raised recently by U-S National Security Advisor Sandy 
Berger when he visited Beijing.

            /////INTERPRETER ACTUALITY/////

The Chinese side has already expressed willingness to 
resume these dialogues.  The two sides are conducting 
diplomatic consultations on this issue.

            /////END ACTUALITY/////

Since NATO's bombing of the Chinese embassy in 
Belgrade last May sent China-U-S relations into a 
tailspin, ties have slowly improved, and most contacts 
have been renewed.  Last November, Washington and 
Beijing negotiated a landmark accord on China's 
accession into the World Trade Organization.  Earlier 
this year, exchanges between the two nations' top 
military officers were resumed.  And now, with the 
possibility of China-U-S talks on arms proliferation 
starting up again, all that is left for resumption is 
a bilateral dialogue on human rights issues.  But 
China has indicated that there is no chance that will 
be renewed anytime soon, because Beijing is angry at 
U-S plans to criticize its human rights record at the 
annual session of the United Nations Human Rights 
Commission in Geneva.

            /////INTERPRETER ACTUALITY/////

We hope the U-S side can take the attitude of holding 
a dialogue instead of confrontational attitudes in 
this regard so as to resume the China-U-S dialogue on 
human rights as soon as possible.

            /////END ACTUALITY/////

China is still rejecting the US explanation that the 
bombing of its Belgrade embassy was caused by faulty 
targeting procedures at the Central Intelligence 
Agency.  It also brushes off the firing of a C-I-A 
official involved in making targeting decisions and 
the administrative punishment meted out to six others.
Spokesman Sun says Beijing is holding out for a 
comprehensive investigation of the incident.

            /////INTERPRETER ACTUALITY/////

We think the U-S explanation on this issue is hardly 
convincing and unacceptable to us.

            /////END ACTUALITY/////

Does China still think that the bombing was 
deliberate?

            /////INTERPRETER ACTUALITY/////

That is the question that we are waiting for the U-S 
side to explain to us.

            /////END ACTUALITY/////

Washington said on Monday that it would be offering 
Beijing no further explanation of the bombing, despite 
China's rejection of the U-S account.  (SIGNED)

NEB/RW/FC



11-Apr-2000 07:02 AM EDT (11-Apr-2000 1102 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.