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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Heading To Asia, Gore Promotes Engagement With China

Associated Press

Vice President Al Gore left Saturday for Asia confident of improving U.S.-China relations despite recent allegations that China tried to funnel money into last year’s congressional and presidential elections.

Gore is visiting Japan, China and Korea in a journey anchored on four days of meetings with Chinese leaders. In Beijing, he plans to discuss issues from human rights and nuclear proliferation to North Korea and how best for China to balance its stunning economic growth with environmental protection.

“Both countries are clearly signaling to one another that we want to find a way to move forward in the relationship while being respectful of the disagreements that we have,” Gore said. It’s his goal, he said, “to lend some positive momentum to the relationship.”

Speaking to reporters en route to Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, where Air Force II refueled, Gore said he did not expect the campaign controversy to have a lasting adverse effect on U.S.-Chinese ties.

But Gore was circumspect in discussing the subject with reporters - and suggested his approach will be much the same in meetings this week with Premier Li Peng and Jiang Zemin, the state president and Communist Party chief.

Gore noted the allegations, including that China tried to steer money to the Democratic Party to support President Clinton’s re-election, are the subject of a federal investigation in the United States. Given that, the Justice Department is constrained in what it can tell the White House about the status of the investigation. Also, Gore noted the Chinese have “vigorously denied” the allegations.

“In an appropriate and sensitive way, it will be discussed,” Gore said. But, he added pointedly, “This is not what this trip is about.”

Gore was arriving today in Tokyo to meet with Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and speak at a global environmental conference. En route home, he stops in Seoul for talks with President Kim Young Sam.

The four days in China, the trip’s centerpiece, initially were to have emphasized the environment, helping China protect its natural resources as it seeks to quadruple its energy supply over the next decade. But the visit has taken much greater significance because of developments in U.S.-Chinese relations.

Gore will be the highest-ranking U.S. official in China since President Bush in February 1989. Four months later, relations were soured by the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. Relations took a turn for the worse again in 1995, when the United States angered Beijing by allowing Taiwan’s president to visit, and China drew U.S. scorn for conducting military exercises near Taiwan.