Repairing the Chinese Connection

Haig goes to Peking to fix a friendship

Ever since Ronald Reagan took office last January, relations between the U.S. and China have been as rocky as a Himalayan footpath. The Chinese are still smarting from his pro-Taiwan statements made during the presidential campaign, and suspect that he will tilt U.S. policy toward Taipei. Stopping in Hong Kong last week, on his way to three days of talks with Chinese leaders in Peking, Secretary of State Alexander Haig admitted that the purpose of his trip was "to clear the air with respect to President Reagan's policies in this region."

Among other matters, the Chinese are concerned that the Administration will honor a request by Taiwan to purchase the FX jet, an advanced American fighter plane still on the drawing boards. The White House initially favored the FX sale, but Haig has successfully delayed a decision by arguing that Taiwan's defense needs are adequately provided for and that the deal would unnecessarily antagonize the Chinese. Nevertheless, Peking is still greatly disturbed by the continuing flow of U.S. arms to the Nationalists, which amounted to nearly $800 million last year; for weeks before Haig's visit, Chinese newspapers steadily attacked the supply line.

As a Communist country,

China is subject to a variety of U.S. laws that place restrictions on everything from arms to export credit. Haig planned to inform Peking that Washington is prepared to loosen the controls that now govern trade between the two nations, thus paving the way for the Chinese to buy such items as radar equipment, computers and transport aircraft. In addition, the Secretary of State wanted to discuss the possible sale of arms. Ever short of funds for modernization, the Chinese prefer technology transfers and licensing agreements that would allow them to build on their own such products as the General Electric J79 jet engine.

For the most part, Haig's talks with

Vice Chairman Deng Xiaoping and other political leaders were expected to focus not on specifics but on broad strategic considerations. With the support of Administration officials, including National Security Adviser Richard Allen, the Secretary hoped to build a consensus between Washington and Peking on the two countries' shared wariness of the Soviet Union. Haig wanted to discuss the possibility of U.S. support for a united front in Cambodia against the Vietnamese-backed regime in Phnom-Penh. He also wished to explore the feasibility of cooperating with the Chinese in supplying arms to the rebel forces in Soviet-occupied Afghanistan. The challenge Haig faced was a delicate one: moving toward greater rapprochement with Peking while steering clear of a formal alliance that would rattle the cage of the Soviet bear.

The Taiwan government, which still has influential friends in the Reagan White House and on Capitol Hill, saw Haig's visit in another light. Taipei contends that China is using its ties with the U.S. only to conquer short-term difficulties and that the two countries are bound to turn hostile again. And if Washington sells Peking any arms, the Taiwanese warn, beware the long-range consequences. C.J. Chen, director of the North American affairs section of the foreign ministry in Taipei, put it succinctly by quoting a Chinese proverb: " 'If you feed a tiger, sooner or later it will eat you as well.'

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