Change in China

Bill Clinton's trip to China has given Americans an extended look at political life in that complex and changing country. Some of what they have witnessed was predictable, including the Chinese government's efforts to clear outspoken dissidents from President Clinton's path. But a good deal was not, like the uncensored broadcast in China of his news conference with President Jiang Zemin. The signs of unexpected openness may be the most encouraging development of the Clinton visit.

Whether the change is a temporary relaxation or a harbinger of greater freedom is not clear. China for the most part remains a repressive dictatorship. But modest liberalizing changes have been under way for much of the last year. They seem to reflect the growing confidence and power of Mr. Jiang.

Officially he has been China's top leader for the past nine years. But it was only after the death of Deng Xiaoping last year that he defined his own positions, endorsing accelerated privatization of industry, banking reform and slightly freer political debate. He took another step last weekend by debating some of the most sensitive issues in Chinese politics with Mr. Clinton on live television, including the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 and Beijing's policies toward Tibet.

Mr. Jiang's words conveyed important nuances to Chinese listeners. His characterization of Tiananmen as a "political disturbance" departed from the official line that it was a "counter-revolutionary riot". Also, he offered a dialogue, with conditions, to the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader. These words may be taken as a license to broader public debate on both subjects.

Mr. Clinton has also encountered less encouraging attitudes. The nationalistic tone of questions asked by students at Beijing University, China's traditional democratic hothouse, was disheartening. It suggested that heavy government pressure directed against students and faculty there since the Tiananmen repression had changed the intellectual climate.

Ordinary Chinese, however, are somewhat freer today to express political views in private and freedom can become contagious. Mr. Jiang seems to understand that a society organized around money- making is harder to regiment than one organized around the nostrums of Chairman Mao. Despite censorship and other government restrictions, exposure to global commerce, television and the Internet are chipping away at the old restraints.

As China continues to modernize its economy, it will face new pressures from within and without to open up its political system as well. Mr. Clinton has repeatedly used his public appearance on this trip to point out the connection between economics and political freedom. Millions of Chinese have been listening attentively.

-- The New York Times