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
.