SWB
FE/0526 C1/11
4 Aug 89
of reporters whether his successful diplomatic activities in Paris "would help free China from the state of international isolation," Qian Qichen said that during the conference he had met foreign ministers from 11 countries, including six developed countries such as France, Britain, Austrialia, Canada, the USA and Japan. he said: These countries have announced suspending high-level contacts with China. But during this conference foreign ministers from these countries asked to meet me. They said that “meeting each other here does not fall into the scope of suspending contacts.”
When commenting on some Western countries' wrong approaches towards China recently, Qian Qichen said it was comprehensible that some people in the West were not happy about what had happened in Peking. But it is dangerous and naturally erroneous for a government to work out its foreign policy according to incorrect information and exaggerated propaganda, he added.
When a reporter asked about whether he talked about bilateral relations during his meetings with foreign ministers from these developed countries, Qian Qichen provided a positive answer. He said: According to a spokesman for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dumas and I only talked about the Cambodian issue during our meeting. As a matter of fact, when I mentioned recent events in Paris that damaged bilateral relations, Dumas expressed regret over the incidents that occurred on two occasions in front of the education department of the Chinese embassy, and also said that France would strictly abide by the regulations concerning diplomatic privileges. Dumas added that France had no intention of interfering in China's internal affairs. All this, of course, involved bilateral relations. In answer to a question about China's criticism against Western countries for carrying out spiritual pollution in China, Qian Qichen pointed out that China and Western countries have different historical traditions, different social systems, different values and different life styles. Whether Western values are good is one thing and whether they apply to China is another, he added. Mutual respect, however, is an important principle governing international exchanges; a country should not force anything on others.
On the “June Peking incident”, Qian Qichen stressed that some people in the West were really involved in the events, particularly some Americans and Hongkong citizens. The Chinese government's policy towards Hongkong is explicit, namely, the mainland practises the socialist system and Hongkong practises the capitalist system; the mainland will not change Hongkong's social system or its life style. But some Hongkong people have introduced Hongkong's capitalist system and its life style to the mainland. This is impermissible.
When asked whether there would be a change in China's domestic and foreign policies, Minister of Foreign Affairs Qian said that China's foreign policy would not change, nor would its policy of reform and opening up to the world. But if some countries close their gates, we cannot help it, he pointed out, adding that China can live without France, as France can live without China. But if the two countries can carry out mutual co-operation in the political and economic fields, this will benefit both sides, he remarked.
After reviewing his contacts with the foreign ministers of the above countries over the last few days, Minister of Foreign Affairs Qian pointed out that these meetings will play a certain role in improving mutual understanding and developing bilateral relations. An example is British Foreign Secretary John Major's suggestion about an early resumption of the work of the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group. Foreign ministers of the two countries have agreed that apart from holding a meeting of the Joint Liaison Group on 27th September, arrangements will also be made for another meeting by the end of this year.
XINHUA: CONFERENCE MADE “GOOD START”
BUT WAY AHEAD “FULL OF STRUGGLES”
Xinhua in English 1515 gmt 2 Aug 89
Excerpts from commentary by Yang Mu, “Good start at Paris conference on Kampuchea"
The three-day ministerial session, the first stage of the month- long Paris international conference on Kampuchea, has been a good start for the conference, made possible only after hard struggle...
The Kampuchean four-faction round-table meeting, or the prelude of the conference, broke up in discord on 25th July, the day it opened. The stubborn attitude of Hun Sen, Premier of the Phnom Penh regime, once shadowed this conference. Therefore, people could hardly be sure if the stage of the conference would make progress.
The conference opened on the afternoon of 30th July. After co-chairmen of the conference, French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas and his Indonesian counterpart Ali Alatas, delivered their opening speeches, UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, President of Democratic Kampuchea Samdech Norodom Sihanouk and seven other speakers also spoke respectively. On the second day of the conference, 12 speakers, including Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen, also expounded their views and stance.
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Representatives of the three factions of the Kampuchean resistance forces headed by Sihanouk then sternly focused on the nature of the Kampuchean issue Vietnamese aggression against Kampuchea and the great sufferings cause by its occupation... However, Nguyen Co Thach, Vietnamese Foreign Minister, and Hun Sen, were deceitful... They remained unchanged and refused to yield an inch in several cardinal issues...
However, the general international trend is seeing confrontation giving way to dialogue and tension to detent. All resolutions on Kampuchea adopted by UN General Assembly in the past had stricken root [as received] in the hearts of people. Justice and reconciliation voiced by most participants at the conference had become a main stream that Hanoi and
Phnom Penh could not resist.
Through struggle and mediation at the ministerial session, the participants reached agreement to set up three working committees... These moves have embodied the spirit of a comprehensive, just and reasonable solution to the Kampuchea problem and stressed the role of the UN.