Artful Jiang leaves Chirac and Blair holding the bill

By Tim Witcher

LISBON (AFP): Chinese leader Jiang Zemin leaves Europe to pursue his six-nation tour in North Africa having got everything he wanted without giving much away, observers said.

"No concessions made on human rights or Tibet, the Bank of China will not be worrying about the contracts struck, but there was a lot of prestige for the Chinese leader," said one European diplomat who followed the Jiang visits to Britain, France and Portugal.

"In spite of the demonstrations and the 'dictator' comments, things could not have gone better for Jiang Zemin as he builds up his personality cult at home," said the diplomat.

Jiang moves on Wednesday from Portugal to Morocco and will later visit Algeria and Saudi Arabia. "The worst is over," said the diplomat, "the rest will be a gentle stroll."

Neither tea with Queen Elizabeth II nor a weekend at President Jacques Chirac's country chateau could soften the Chinese hardline stand on political opposition.

Rights were not an issue in Portugal and Jiang even extracted concessions by getting an advance force of troops into Macau ahead of the Dec. 20 handover.

British industry won contracts potentially worth US$3.5 billion but French industrialists were disappointed that Chirac's generous hospitality only got an order for 28 Airbus jets worth around $2.5 billion -- which will have to be shared with France's partners in the European consortium.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chirac could end up paying a big price for the Jiang tour, however.

Blair was elated by Jiang's comments that relations had improved since the new moderate Labour party had come to power and Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997. The prime minister said it was a new era in relations.

But the press and rights groups hammered him for the clampdown on protests over the communist leader's presence. Even traditional allies spoke out against the police struggle to keep largely peaceful protesters out of sight.

Chirac also prides himself on the personal relationship built up with Jiang. But security was just as tight in Paris with scores of arrests.

And the French president faced a storm over his welcome to Chateau Bity for a weekend of talks on rights that failed to budge Jiang.

"Clearly," wrote the French daily Liberation, "Jacques Chirac did not succeed in squeezing the slightest concession from him (Jiang) that would have justified this visit in the eyes of a public opinion that is incredulous, if not shocked, at the red carpet rolled out for the head of the world's last communist power."

On to Lisbon, which had a series of complaints against China over the Macau handover.

But Portugal agreed that Chinese troops should be allowed into the enclave before Dec. 20. And President Jorge Campaio said he would finally be at the ceremonies despite differences over the handover guest list.

Throughout his eight days in Europe Jiang just seemed to keep smiling. He sang at a banquet with Blair and danced with the French president's wife, Bernadette.

"He came for political reasons and prestige," said the European diplomat. "There does not seem to have been any diplomatic gain. It is all about selling Jiang Zemin.

"The crackdown going on in Beijing on the Falungong sect while Jiang was in the West just showed how little they care about international opinion on rights," the diplomat added.

Indeed, at the final banquet in Paris, Chirac had a last try when he said to Jiang that human rights were "a universal principle that had a vocation to be applied everywhere."

Jiang only replied with a call for "non-interference in the internal affairs" of other countries. But the Chinese supreme leader still smiled as he went on to raise his glass to wish "Good health to President Chirac and his wife."