"Foreign Minister Li assured our delegation that China is ''firmly opposed'' to North Korea''s development of nuclear weapons as well as to its withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty," Collins said. "Both the United States and China have a mutual interest in a nuclear-free Korean peninsula."
While expressing her appreciation for China''s leadership in initiating the talks with North Korea and the U.S., Collins also expressed hope to President Hu that the discussions will be expanded to include South Korea, Japan, and Russia. "When our delegation met with the leaders of South Korea and Japan prior to our coming to China, they expressed their strong desire to be at the negotiating table," Collins said, "and they should be." In response to Collins'' comments, President Hu expressed a preference for trilateral talks only at this stage.
The Senate delegation also offered Chinese officials assistance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in coping with the growing SARS epidemic. Chinese officials revealed the existence of 350 additional SARS cases in Beijing over the weekend. In his meeting with the Senators, President Hu described SARS as a "disaster" for his country and outlined a number of actions China is taking to control the disease.
Collins noted that both the Chinese Health Minister and Beijing''s Mayor have lost their jobs due to their mishandling of the SARS crisis. "Chinese officials now appear to recognize that earlier attempts to conceal the extent of the epidemic have endangered the health of their citizens, allowed the disease to spread to many other countries, and harmed the Asian economy," Collins said. "I believe our discussions with Chinese officials have helped to encourage them to pursue more effective and aggressive policies to contain the disease and to cooperate more fully with the World Health Organization and other public health experts."
The Senate delegation also pressed Chinese officials on human rights. "We brought up the specific case of Chinese dissident, Rebiya Kadeer, a businesswoman who was arrested in 1999 as she entered a hotel in Xinjiang to discuss human rights with congressional staff visiting China. She was subsequently sentenced to an eight-year prison term," Collins said, "and we pressed for her release from prison."
Collins reported that the U.S. delegation also asked the Foreign Minister for a complete review of all current cases of prisoners who have been sentenced for "counterrevolutionary" crimes. "Whenever an official American delegation visits a country like China with a long history of human rights violations, it is incumbent on us to keep pushing for the recognition of basic human rights," Collins said.
Collins has been traveling in Asia on a Congressional Delegation that will visit four countries, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China before returning to Andrews Air Force Base on Tuesday.