MEMORANDUM TO: OPINION LEADERS

FROM: ELLEN BORK, Deputy Director

SUBJECT: President Bush’s Meeting with President Hu

President Bush will meet with China’s President Hu Jintao this weekend. Chinese presidents have become accustomed to warm meetings with American presidents without serious discussion of the intractable problems in U.S.-China relations. President Bush should take this opportunity to outline several areas of disagreement.

Taiwan. China continues to build up its military capability to threaten Taiwan. President Bush should remind President Hu of the U.S. commitment to Taiwan, and his own pledge to do whatever it takes to defend it. Moreover, he should tell the Chinese president that the U.S. construes its commitment to Taiwan broadly. That would entail the President ensuring that Taiwan has the wherewithal to resist China’s non-military coercion -- including a free trade agreement with the U.S. -- and taking steps to help Taiwan join in important international organizations. In order to be convincing on the latter initiative, the President should ask his own officials to explain why the U.S. failed to advance Taiwan’s observer status at the recent meeting of the World Health Assembly.

Human rights. In April, the Bush Administration decided that not sponsoring a resolution at the UN Human Rights commission’s annual meeting would “best advance the cause of human rights in China with a new government in Beijing.” However, that makes President Bush’s personal leadership on human rights, especially systemic reform, essential. Specifically, the president must tell President Hu that the U.S. does not believe that token releases of prisoners compensate for the continued persecution of labor activists, Tibetans, Uighurs, Christians, the Falun Gong, internet users, mobile phone text messagers, and the slow but steady subversion of Hong Kong’s freedoms and institutions.

North Korea. After the April talks in Beijing, the administration may be realizing that its hope for Chinese assistance in dealing with North Korea is just a hope. President Bush should let President Hu know that the U.S. expects actual cooperation in denying Pyongyang the revenue and other sources of support it depends on. In addition, President Bush should insist that Beijing abide by its international obligations to safeguard North Korean refugees and not to forcibly repatriate them.

Non-proliferation. The Bush Administration’s decision last week to ban imports from the Chinese state-owned conglomerate NORINCO in retaliation for its proliferation to countries like Iran is a good sign. However, after years of waiving sanctions required by law, it will take a great deal more consistency before China believes Washington is serious about ending China’s proliferation. It will be important for President Bush to impress his commitment to this issue.

Health. The SARS outbreak revealed once again the great human costs of China’s communist system. The U.S. has announced financial assistance to China for fighting SARS. President Bush should tell President Hu the aid will not flow if the Chinese government is not forthcoming about the disease, muzzles health professionals, including Dr. Jiang, the whistleblower who first exposed Beijing’s dishonesty, and uses the illness as a pretext to crack down on the press, internet, demonstrations and other forms of expression.

In several of these important areas of disagreement, the U.S. has a credibility problem. Whether by glossing over human rights abuses and proliferation violations, or by acquiescing to China’s international isolation of Taiwan, the U.S. has given a great deal of ground in the quest for engagement with China. Writing in his memoirs, former Secretary of State George Shultz advised against placing too much importance on U.S.-China relations, lest the China use America’s eagerness for a “good relationship” to exact concessions. President George W. Bush could do a lot worse than to have an unpleasant meeting with Hu Jintao this weekend.