China
is ready to host U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who will be making her
first trip to Beijing in her new position. Secretary Clinton arrives in the
Chinese capital, Friday.
Mrs. Clinton chose to highlight climate
change, among other issues, on her trip to Asia this week. Chinese Foreign
Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Thursday that China attaches great importance
to the issue and hopes to strengthen Sino-American cooperation in addressing
climate change.
Jiang says, despite the financial crisis, China already
developed a national program against climate change and will continue to make
unremitting efforts in this area.
She also says China looks forward to
progress at global climate treaty talks, scheduled for the end of the year in
Copenhagen. China has passed the United States to become the world's leading
emitter of greenhouse gases.
Although climate change is a likely topic of
discussion for Clinton's Beijing visit, many China analysts say her trip will be
judged more on tone than actual content. Chinese officials are hoping relations
will continue in the non-confrontational spirit of the George W. Bush
administration.
Clinton, herself, has advocated a "positive and
cooperative" relationship with Beijing. In a speech at the Asia Society in New
York, last weekend, she said Washington has a very broad agenda when it comes to
China.
One topic likely to be addressed during her visit is Taiwan. China
views cross-straits relations as one of the most important aspects of U.S.-China
ties. Spokeswoman Jiang says Beijing hopes the United States will stay
committed to the One China principle.
The undecided fate of 17 Uighur
detainees, who were cleared for release from Guantanamo Bay, may also be raised
in Secretary Clinton's talks with her Chinese counterparts. Although Beijing
wants the men to be returned for trial, the United States has not agreed to send
them to China, fearing they may be persecuted.
Spokeswoman Jiang says China wants the men to be
prosecuted in China, because they are members of the East Turkestan terrorist
organization, which is on a sanction list of the U.N. Security
Council.
Jiang says China is against any country accepting the Chinese
Muslim detainees.
Some of the 17 Uighur detainees were cleared for
release as early as 2003, but have continued to be held because no other country
agreed to take them. Wednesday, a U.S. appeals court in Washington overturned a
ruling that would have released the men into the United States.
In 2006,
Albania accepted five other Uighur men who were released from Guantanamo Bay.