British Prime Minister John Major, the first Western leader to visit China since the Tiananmen Square crackdown, arrived Monday pledging to raise human rights but planning to avoid chiding his hosts over democratic change in the Soviet Union.
Fresh from meetings in Moscow, Major flew to Beijing for three days of talks with China's hard-line leaders, whose continued repression has been highlighted by its contrast with the Soviets' sweeping reforms.Major alluded to the changes in the Soviet Union in his opening remarks to Chinese Premier Li Peng, who greeted him at an official welcoming ceremony near Tiananmen Square.
"We live today in a changing world in which events are moving very rapidly, very speedily and sometimes in the most unexpected way," Major said.
"I think that argues very strongly for the closest possible consultation on all these questions."
En route to China, Major said he believed Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin could work together to rescue the Soviet economy.
"Both are aware of the need to work with one another for the Soviet Union. That I believe you will see happen," he said.
The British leader's visit also will address the signing of an agreement to build a new airport in Hong Kong. Major's government has been accused of ceding too much authority to China before it regains control of the colony in 1997.
Major indicated that resolving Cambodia's 12-year-old civil war would be high on his agenda, saying he and Li would discuss "our joint responsibilities as members of the Permanent Five of the United Nations Security Council."
Although Japan's prime minister broke the ice last month with a Beijing visit, Major is the first Western leader to travel to China since the June 1989 crackdown.
Major has been criticized at home for the contrast between his open support for the democratic changes in the Soviet Union and his government's moderate approach toward China, which has shown no sign of easing political repression.
In his remarks en route to Bei-jing, Major noted that China "has had a period of isolation" and "it needs people going in and telling them how the rest of the world thinks."
Nonetheless, Major's visit has been viewed as a concession to China in exchange for Beijing's agreement on the hard-fought Hong Kong airport project. In fact, British officials have acknowledged China suggested the trip.
The British leader's presence in Beijing clearly boosts the prestige of the communist regime, with Chinese officials already crowing that the visit means relations with London are normalized after two years of strain following the Tiananmen crackdown.