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July 10, 1998, Friday, Final Edition

SECTION: Part A; WORLD; Pg. A13

LENGTH: 404 words

HEADLINE: U.S. policy on China 'naive';
Tiananmen survivor calls for pressure to change approach

BYLINE: Tom Carter; THE WASHINGTON TIMES

BODY:
The Clinton administration's policy of strategic cooperation with China is naive and will not bring more freedom to the Chinese, says the director of a newly formed organization seeking to allow all Chinese dissidents to speak with one voice.

As Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright urged on Capitol Hill yesterday that China's "most-favored-nation" (MFN) status be renewed, Shengde Lian , a leader of the 1989 democracy demonstrations at Tiananmen Square, said the policy is flawed.

"In the long term, to give communist China unconditional MFN is not a smart decision. There have been some improvements in human rights in China, not because China wants to change but because of international pressure," said Mr. Lian, the executive director of the Free China Movement.

In an earlier interview, he said Mr. Clinton's China summit, while hailed as a public relations success, had brought no substantial results.

"President Clinton's trip . . . was a disappointment. It was shocking. . . . His words did not help the Chinese in any way," he said.

Mr. Lian said this view was echoed by dissident leaders in China who have written to him since Mr. Clinton's return to the United States.

Mr. Lian, who was jailed for two years for his Tiananmen Square activities, said progress on human rights should be measured by the number of dissidents released from Chinese jails. He said at least 350 Tiananmen students are still languishing in Chinese "universities," a euphemism for jail because they house so many former students.

Several weeks before the Clinton visit to China, Mr. Lian succeeded in creating the Free China Movement, an umbrella organization bringing together 30 dissident organizations, including two in China.

In the short term, the group is pushing for the release of all political and religious prisoners in China. It estimates there are more than 3,000 such prisoners.

In the long run the Free China Movement advocates the peaceful "replacement" of the "communist dictatorship" in Beijing.

Mr. Lian said that what began as a simple quest to get his jailhouse companions released has mushroomed into a democracy movement with several thousand active members.

"I kept telling [other opposition leaders] we have to work together. Only together can we be seen as a legitimate voice by the media, the Clinton administration and the rest of the world," Mr. Lian said.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: July 10, 1998