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NEWS - China ``highly displeased''



Subject: NEWS - China ``highly displeased'' with U.S. defence law

In a message dated 10/11/99 5:16:31 PM Eastern Daylight Time, BURMAJAPAN 
writes:

<< 
 China ``highly displeased'' with U.S. defence law
 
   
 BEIJING, Oct 8 (Reuters) - China announced strong displeasure with the 
United States for signing the fiscal year 2000 defence bill into law, saying 
it contained anti-China articles, state media reported on Friday. 
 
 ``Now that the United States has made the bill into law, China is highly 
displeased with and is firmly opposed to this,'' Xinhua news agency quoted 
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue as saying. 
 
 President Bill Clinton on Tuesday signed a $288.8 billion U.S. military 
budget that increased defense spending for the first time since the Cold War 
ended and gave troops their biggest pay raise in 18 years. 
 
 The Xinhua article made no reference to parts of the law that Beijing found 
objectionable. 
 
 ``The Chinese are demanding that the United States proceed from the overall 
situation of bilateral relations and adopt effective measures to prevent the 
anti-Chinese articles in the law from damaging the improvement and 
development of Sino-U.S. relations,'' Zhang was quoted as saying. 
 
 It was the second time in as many days that China lashed out against the 
United States. 
 
 China opened a new rift in the fragile Sino-U.S. relationship on Thursday, 
reacting angrily to U.S. threats of sanctions over allegations of religious 
persecution. 
 
 Ties had been on a gradual mend after hitting their lowest point in a decade 
following the bombing of Beijing's embassy in Yugoslavia in May by NATO 
warplanes. 
 
 ``This is in essence a wanton interference in China's internal affairs under 
the pretext of religious freedom,'' the foreign ministry's Zhang was quoted 
as saying by Xinhua. 
 
 The U.S. State Department designated China, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar and Sudan as 
countries of particular concern for violations of religious freedom, 
spokesman James Rubin said on Wednesday. 
 
 The designation makes the countries liable for U.S. sanctions. The 
designations were the first of their kind under the Religious Freedom Act 
passed by Congress last year. 
 
 Zhang said on Thursday that ties had ``reached a crucial point.'' 
 
 U.S. President Bill Clinton and Chinese President Jiang Zemin had met last 
month in New Zealand, their first face-to-face talks since the bombing. 
 
 11:55 10-08-99 >>