BEIJING, June 27: United States President Bill Clinton was officially welcomed to China at a ceremony on Tiananmen Square Saturday, becoming the first US head of state to visit the Esplanade since the army crushed pro-democracy protests there in 1989.Accompanied by his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, he was met by Chinese President Jiang Zemin who introduced him to a line of Chinese officials standing on the edge of red carpet in front of the Great Hall of the People.
The two leaders stood side by side for the US and Chinese national anthems and a 21-gun salute, and then stood facing the Monument to the People's Heroes which was the focus of the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations.
They inspected the Chinese guard of honour, made up of the three corps of the army, air force and navy.
The troops, carrying bayonetted-rifles, goose-stepped past the two leaders.
Clinton and Jiang then shook hands and turned and walked up the steps to the hall to begin their landmark summit.
Meanwhile, the Press Trust ofIndia (PTI) reports said that China today strongly denied that it ``arrested or detained'' some political dissidents in central city of Xian during Clinton's visit.
``A few people's reports about this matter were pure fabrications,'' a foreign ministry spokesman said moments before Clinton's summit with Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
Xinhua quoted the spokesman as saying that the police has not arrested dissident Yang Hai and other dissidents.
``To my knowledge, none of the few people you mentioned were arrested or detained during President Clinton's stay in Xian,'' he told media persons, but added that ``it was quite normal for the police to have a talk, according to law, with certain people who had disturbed public order and obstructed the performance of public duties.''
Two of the four activists who were reportedly detained today hotly disputed government's statement, a report said.
Yesterday's reports of dissidents detention attracted harsh criticism not just from rights activists but also fromClinton who ordered lodging of an official protest and promised to take up the matter with Jiang at today's summit.
US national security adviser Sandy Berger had expressed dissatisfaction at China's initial denial of arrests.
Over 50 dissidents across China recently signed an open letter to Clinton urging him to meet with Xu Wenli, a veteran pro-democracy activist, here. Human rights group Amnesty International has backed the call.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
