ABSTRACT

The United States and China did make gestures to each other, with China declaring before the meeting it would consider inviting representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross discuss humanitarian visits to political prisoners. Bill Clinton's relationship with Jiang Zemin aided the US-China relationship in much the same way as the Nixon-Mao. In late October 1997, President Jiang visited the United States. Jiang's decision to allow Clinton to speak freely to the Chinese people on live TV and to condemn die Tiananmen crackdown showed that China was allowing greater freedom of information than at any time in its long history. President Clinton had a facc-to-facc meeting with President Jiang Zemin. During their talk, Jiang read from note cards and gave Clinton a fifteen-minute lecture on why governments should not interfere in the internal affairs of other nations. Under Clinton and Jiang, the United States and China continued to develop productive trade and investment tics.