Beijing is hoping US President Bill Clinton will make a concession on Taiwan in return for China's promise to scale down the export of military know-how to Pakistan and Iran.
Diplomatic sources in Beijing said yesterday the Chinese side had fixed on the strategy of 'Pakistan and Iran in exchange for Taiwan'.
The sources said President Jiang Zemin hoped to take advantage of the unexpected flare-up of the South Asia crisis to seize the initiative in the summit with Mr Clinton on Saturday.
'Jiang is tying more guarantees of non-proliferation regarding Pakistan and the Islamic world to Washington cutting down weapons sales to Taiwan,' said a diplomatic source. 'Jiang knows this is a potent card as China has more leverage in this part of the world than the US.' Leaders including Mr Jiang and Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan have asked Mr Clinton to spell out formally Washington's opposition to Taiwan independence and to agree to curtail arms sales to Taipei.
It is understood, however, that Beijing's 'second choice' is for Mr Clinton to make private reassurances about cutting arms sales and putting more pressure on Taipei to go to the negotiating table with the mainland.
At the Sino-US summit in October, Mr Clinton pledged privately he would send retired US officials to Taiwan to persuade it to enter talks with Beijing.
A Chinese source said Beijing would also press Mr Clinton to clarify that the US-Japan security arrangement did not cover the Taiwan Strait. The source said it was unlikely Mr Clinton would accede to Beijing's demands.