RUSSIAN DEFENSE CHIEF MEETS WITH CHINESE LEADER.

Seleznev’s parliamentary delegation arrived in Beijing one day after the departure of Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeev. During his own four-day stay in China Sergeev had held intensive talks with Chinese leaders on a number of security and military issues, and particularly on Russian-Chinese military-technical cooperation (see the Monitor, October 23).

On October 23 Sergeev met with Chinese President Jiang Zemin and, later in the day, held separate talks with Zhang Wannian, the official responsible for military-technical questions in the Chinese government. Jiang reiterated the commonalty of views between Russia and China on the issue of Kosovo, and on the two countries’ joint opposition to a U.S.-Japanese proposal for a joint air defense system in Asia. The Chinese leader reiterated his intention to visit Moscow next month for a summit meeting with President Boris Yeltsin (Russian agencies, Xinhua, October 23).

KURIL RESIDENTS CRY FOUL.