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CNN Live Saturday

What Will the U.S.-China Standoff Mean for Future Relations?

Aired April 07, 2001 - 17:21   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: Back now for more on the United States-China standoff, and joining us to discuss this and how the Bush administration is handling it is Douglas Paal, president of the Asia Pacific Policy Center.

Mr. Paal, thanks for coming in on a Saturday afternoon.

DOUGLAS PAAL, ASIA PACIFIC POLICY CENTER: You're welcome.

FRAZIER: You know, there were two meetings today so far. What is suggested to you by the fact that the second meeting held so late at night, at such an inconvenient time. Is that an insult or a slight of some kind?

PAAL: Well, we've got -- you never know what local politics are that demand that they play these games, that you don't know what they're doing in terms of cat-and-mouse with the media, trying to keep them away from seeing the people.

There's also the problem with communications. The Chinese president and the man who runs foreign policy for China are both traveling in Latin America, so they're more in our time zone than in China's, and they're in the wrong time zone for the people trying to work with their own colleagues in Beijing, and that complicates it. But so far, the progress seems to be continuing.

FRAZIER: And in your conversations with us earlier, you took heart from the fact that the right people are at the table now, as you put it. What do you mean?

PAAL: Well, we had in the initial phase very high levels of decibels shouted from both sides one week ago. When that was moved over to the State Department Tuesday, the opportunity then was for some people with real expertise on how to deal with China and their counterparts, who have operated together and solved problems together in the past, to try to find a way out of the fix that we are in now.

FRAZIER: Specifically, the military in China handing over to diplomats, to professionals.

PAAL: That's right. the military had control of the issue initially, plus the top political leadership. By bringing in the diplomats, they've got people who have a stake in the outcome with the United States. The military doesn't have much to do with the United States, except to anticipate us as a possible adversary. But the foreign service, the foreign team in Beijing needs the United States for its trade, for its international relations, cooperation in the U.N., and they have a stake in an outcome that leads to compromise.

FRAZIER: I know you've taken heart from the fact that conversations have been muted now, the choice of words is a little bit more moderate. But let's listen for a moment, if we could, to some comments from Representative Henry Hyde, who is going to appear later tonight on "EVANS, NOVAK, HUNT AND SHIELDS," and it seems that he's rattling the saber on behalf of somebody. We don't know, but let's listen and you can tell us what you think.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HENRY HYDE (R), ILLINOIS: I would call them hostages. They're being held against their will, and five days is a rather long time, especially if you're the one being held in detention. So, as time goes on, this situation will intensify, will get more difficult.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRAZIER: Of course, his reference there to the 24 crew members as hostages.

PAAL: That's right. I spent the afternoon with some political figures here in Washington, and they're getting hot under the collar. They want progress faster than China is likely to deliver it. We can't wait for a long time, and I think it's important for the Chinese to hear that messages from Congress repeatedly so that they understand that we're not moving in a glacial, Chinese sense of time as our pace, but we have to move much more quickly. We've got news cycles and demands and political realities to deal with here that just don't exist in China and they have to be kept appraised of these realities.

FRAZIER: They think in terms of dynasties. One last question, but it's a big one, I'm afraid. What do you think this is doing to the overall relationship in the long-term?

PAAL: Well, in the long-term, we're building up scar tissue. We've had a history in the last decade of a number of things that have made Americans very skeptical of China and Chinese very skeptical of America. Most importantly, a couple of when we accidentally bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade and they stoned our embassy in the aftermath.

This is one more instance where they see our intelligence and military agencies as trying to chase them and to encircle them, and it fits into a long-running mythology about China always being a victim. I'd like to see the Chinese spend more time remembering that the West brought them a lot of modern science and technology, but that's not their preference.

FRAZIER: Douglas Pall, thank you. As president of the Asia Pacific Policy Center, we welcome those insights. PAAL: Thank you.

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