China, US and the Jiang Zemin reset: how former Cold War rivals found a decade of unsteady calm after Tiananmen

Jiang Zemin and Bill Clinton met in Seattle in 1993, when an ostracised China was ‘in great difficulties’ following the Tiananmen crackdown

So began Jiang’s eventful steering of bilateral ties, the high points of which were China’s entry to the WTO and hosting of the 2008 Olympics

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Jiang Zemin and Bill Clinton on the South Lawn of the White House in October 1997. Photo: AP

Published: 10:09pm, 1 Dec 2022Updated: 12:18am, 2 Dec 2022

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When Jiang Zemin arrived in Seattle in November 1993 – his first US visit as president of China – Beijing’s relations with Washington and most of the world were in disarray, overshadowed by the bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown four years earlier.

China was “in great difficulties” back then, hit by US-led sanctions and diplomatic isolation following the events of June 1989, former foreign minister Li Zhaoxing recalled later.

Both Jiang and his host, then-US president Bill Clinton, had faced many questions over deciding to meet on the sidelines of the inaugural Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ forum.

Although that meeting – the first top-level US-China exchange since June 1989 – yielded few tangible results, Clinton said the talks were “very productive” and that the US was “reluctant to isolate a country as big as China”, while Jiang praised their direct engagement as being “of great significance in itself”.

Jiang Zemin, Bill Clinton and other Apec leaders head to Blake Island off Seattle in November 1993. Photo: AFP

It was Jiang’s most high-profile appearance on the world stage since taking office soon after the Tiananmen crackdown. But it also posed a big test for the Chinese leader, following Clinton’s decision that May to make China’s “most favoured nation” trade status contingent upon improvements in its human rights record.

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