Washington wants more concessions on trade and tariff issues than were on the table back in April, reflecting a sense that the White House would face a struggle trying to sell a comprehensive trade agreement with China on Capitol Hill right now. "The U.S. clearly needs China in the WTO if that body is going to have any meaning, but both political and trade considerations mean Washington has to set tough conditions," says TIME correspondent William Dowell. "East Timor may make things even more difficult. Washington will take a lot of flak sustaining its position that Indonesia is so important economically that we're willing to soft-pedal human rights issues, and that will make it even harder to sell the same approach on China." Over in Beijing, Jiang and Premier Zhu Rongji are under mounting pressure to slow down reforms amid ballooning unemployment and looming social instability. And the conditions China would have to accept in order to gain entry into the WTO would only increase the country's short-term economic pain, leaving Jiang to ponder whether he has the political capital to ride out the fallout. So while both men will smile and banter for the cameras this weekend, don't expect them to sign anything substantive any time soon.
Houses Poxed, Clinton and Jiang Eye New Talks
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Bill Clinton and Jiang Zemin could be forgiven for feeling like Romeo and Juliet: They're desperate to conclude an agreement on China's entry into the World Trade Organization, but each faces mounting opposition in his own household. U.S. and Chinese representatives reopened negotiations on the issue Thursday, ahead of Saturday's planned meeting between Presidents Clinton and Jiang at the APEC summit in New Zealand. But the window of opportunity has narrowed for both sides. The political fallout from nuclear espionage allegations forced President Clinton to back away from concluding a deal when Jiang visited Washington in April, and then the NATO bombing of China's embassy in Belgrade in May put trade talks in the deep freeze. Attitudes on both sides have hardened in the silence.