Wilson, Riordan Plan Warm Welcome for Chinese President

SACRAMENTO — With more than a quarter of U.S. exports to China coming from California, no state faces bigger risks in the delicate navigation between economic opportunity and the concern over human rights when dealing with Beijing.

So when Chinese President Jiang Zemin arrives in Los Angeles today, Gov. Pete Wilson and Mayor Richard Riordan are planning a warm welcome. Both Republican executives will meet privately with Jiang on Sunday and then attend a Beverly Hills lunch for Jiang with about 700 dignitaries and guests.

“We have an entire range of concerns and I think mutual opportunities,” Wilson said Friday. “What we want to do is make it clear that the benefits . . . can be most rapidly achieved by an open relationship. Part of that open relationship is that he has to acknowledge that there is genuine concern and criticism about his policies.”

Economic growth on both sides of the Pacific has forged an increasingly important business affiliation between China and California.

California exports to China are up 20% this year alone, according to the state Trade and Commerce Agency. With last summer’s hand-over of Hong Kong to Beijing, the China market now ranks as California’s sixth-largest trading partner, slightly behind Taiwan.

China and Taiwan--which China considers a rogue province--each spend about $6 billion annually on California products, mostly computer and aerospace equipment. China’s market, in particular, is expected to grow rapidly.

With so much at stake, China and California have developed a relationship of nurturing--if sometimes guarded--respect and admiration.

China and Taiwan both sent representatives to Wilson’s two inaugural ceremonies as governor. Wilson also met with Jiang in January during a trade mission to Asia.

The governor said he complained to Jiang about Chinese violations of international copyright laws on computer software and movies, two big California exports. Jiang’s meeting with the California governor was the top story on the state-run nightly news broadcast.

Unlike Riordan, Wilson said he will raise his concerns about human rights when he meets with Jiang on Sunday. The governor plans to counsel that free expression is a catalyst for economic growth.

Wilson said President Clinton was “absolutely correct” in describing today’s China as being on the “wrong side of history.” But, like Clinton, he said the interests of freedom and democracy are most encouraged by open communication with China.

“If you don’t communicate, then I think you greatly diminish the opportunity for bringing about change,” Wilson said.

Not all agree, as Jiang has seen this week. In Virginia on Tuesday, Republican Gov. George F. Allen avoided a meeting with the Chinese leader. And Thursday in New York, Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani--both Republicans--passed on meetings with Jiang.

“The sentiment is all over the map,” said Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, a Democrat and former chairman of the National Governors’ Assn. “Not so much about whether they have human rights violations or not. Of course they do. The question is what do you do about it. In a sense, you are conducting your own foreign policy.”

In Los Angeles, a spokeswoman for the mayor said Riordan plans to leave foreign policy issues like human rights to another government level. Noelia Rodriguez said the mayor will use his time with Jiang to do “a commercial for Los Angeles.”

Riordan will attend most of Jiang’s events during his roughly 36-hour visit to Los Angeles. In addition to their private meeting and the lunch Sunday, Riordan will host a “red carpet” welcome for Jiang tonight at Los Angeles International Airport and a similar farewell ceremony Monday morning. The mayor will also attend a dinner for Jiang on Sunday evening.

“We are obviously very sensitive to these [human rights] issues, but the purpose of the mayor’s [participation] is . . . to showcase Los Angeles,” Rodriguez said. “Los Angeles is trying to be the international trade city for the U.S. in the 21st century.”