CHINESE PRESIDENT STARTS CENTRAL ASIAN TOUR.

Chinese president Jiang Zemin today conferred with Uzbek president Islam Karimov in Tashkent, the first leg of Jiang’s official tour of Central Asia. Chinese officials said that the Uzbek side expressed support for Beijing on the issues of Taiwan, Tibet, and the Uighur-inhabited Xinjiang region. The presidents discussed ways of developing rail transport links and overcoming stagnation in bilateral trade. Jiang visited the aircraft plant near Tashkent which produces Soviet-era AN-10, AN-12, and IL-76 transport planes for the Chinese market. (Xinhua, Reuter, July 2 and 3)

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