by Patrick J. Buchanan – April 5, 1999
Address to the Commonwealth Club
San Francisco, California

My subject today is U.S.-China relations on the eve of the visit of Mr. Zhu Rongji to the United States. In the decade that has elapsed since the last visit of a Chinese premier, much has transpired that is deeply troubling and, indeed, profoundly alarming.

Ten years ago, a frightened Chinese regime that had watched pro-Western demonstrators shake every Communist state in Europe decided it would not happen in China. Tanks were sent to disperse students in Tienanmen Square, for the crime of having demanded democratic reforms beneath a replica of the Statue of Liberty. We yet do not know how many perished in that massacre.