China, wary about U.S., seeks warmer SE Asia ties

China, wary about U.S., seeks warmer SE Asia ties

Brian Rhoads, Reuters, Bandar Seri Begawan

China, wary about U.S. influence in Southeast Asia, will seek in
Brunei this week to strengthen ties with its southern neighbors
while fending off American accusations it exports weapons of mass
destruction, diplomats said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan arrives in Brunei late
on Monday for two days of talks with the 10-member Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and a security forum including 13
other partners, from the United States and the Koreas to Russia
and Japan.

The highlight of China's diplomatic overtures with ASEAN
nations has been plan to create the world's largest free-trade
zone, uniting 1.7 billion people, and a preliminary framework
could be ready late this year.

But Chinese officials say they are hoping for a stepped up
security role for ASEAN, which suffers nagging concerns that
religious militant groups are fostering terrorism in the region.

"We hope the Southeast Asian cooperation would move from
mainly economics to be expanded to political areas, to dialog on
security and detailed discussions on anti-terrorism," Vice
Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Beijing last week.

Tang also is due to hold bilateral talks with U.S. Secretary
of State Colin Powell, who is expected to broach China's sales of
weapons to North Korea, Iraq and Iran, states that President
George W. Bush has labeled an "axis of evil".

The U.S. slapped sanctions on nine Chinese firms earlier this
month for transfer of arms-related material or technology to
Iran. China either denies the firms were violating any agreements
or says they carried out the exports without its knowledge.

China maintains it abides by all international agreements
including a pledge to Washington in November 2000 to halt
transfers of missile technology to Pakistan and implement an
export control system.

Tang also may raise Beijing's concerns over U.S. plans to sell
submarines and other weapons to its arch-rival Taiwan, which
China regards as a renegade province that must eventually be
returned to the mainland, by force if necessary.

Beijing has simmered uncomfortably as the Bush administration
vowed more than once to "do whatever it takes" to defend the
island and met with Taiwan officials in the United States,
breaking with former President Bill Clinton's policy of strategic
ambiguity over the island's diplomatic status.

Despite disagreements, the Tang-Powell meeting is expected to
remain cordial. Analysts say China has been making an effort to
keep ties on a warming track ahead of a visit to the United
States by President Jiang Zemin in October.

Jiang, slated to retire as China's top Communist Party leader
in a leadership reshuffle due in coming months and as president
next March, is eager to be remembered as the man who consolidated
Sino-U.S. relations, analysts say.

Tang will also seek stronger ties with Southeast Asia, laying
the foundation for a leaders summit at the year end in Cambodia
to be attended by Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji.

The sudden presence of U.S. troops on China's Central Asian
borders -- and a six-month operation in the Philippines -- after
the Sept. 11 attacks alarmed Beijing, which sees the United
States as an unwanted houseguest in the region, diplomats said.

"The Chinese ultimately want to push the Americans back but at
the moment they have toned down their anti-American rhetoric,"
said a Western diplomat in Beijing.

China has responded by stepping up its wooing of Southeast
Asian nations, working to overcome suspicions dating back decades
to its financing of Communist guerrilla movements in the region.

Where once Beijing was full of bluster over territorial
disputes with ASEAN states, such as those over the potentially
oil and gas rich Spratlys islands, it now pursues more friendly
diplomatic and economic initiatives including the free trade
zone.

"They want to present the smiling face of China," the diplomat
said.