Chiago Tribune (CT) - TUESDAY, September 5, 1995 Edition: NORTH SPORTS FINAL Section: NEWS Page: 1 Word Count: 1,130
Uli Schmetzer, Tribune Staff Writer

The allegation that China has violated its UN mandate as host nation has added a new controversy to the U.S. first lady's two-day visit, which U.S. critics view as an inappropriate way to help mend shaky Sino-American relations.

Mrs. Clinton will walk a tightrope between her solemn pledge to help with the abolition of discrimination and violence against women and her obligations to U.S. diplomacy. She has insisted the visit is an act of solidarity with women's aspirations and not a gesture of approval for China and its sorry record on human rights.

In her first appearance at the conference Tuesday morning, Mrs. Clinton made an impassioned plea for universal access to health and education for all women.

She told a colloquium on women and health that "people and their governments everywhere are beginning to understand that investing in the health of women and girls is as important to the prosperity of nations as investing in the development of open markets and trade."

Women have been denied access to health care, education, economic opportunites, legal protection and human rights "for too long," Mrs. Clinton said.

She said that by the end of this decade, more than half of the people in the world with HIV would be women.

"AIDS, which threatens whole families and regions, demands the strongest possible response. Governments and the international community must address head-on the growing number of women who are being infected." The first lady flew into Beijing the day after a spectacular welcome ceremony for conference delegates at the Great Hall of the People. Cheers rose from thousands of delegates when Gertrude Mongella, the Tanzanian secretary general of the women's conference, shouted: "A revolution has begun. There is no going back."

Despite excessive security, the majority of the 30,000 delegates from 185 nations were confident that the UN's largest-ever conference will be a turning point in centuries-old discrimination against women and that a 120-page Action Platform will become the blueprint for gender equality and mutual respect.

But in the U.S., Hillary Clinton has been harshly criticized for attending a conference that conservatives see as a shindig by radical feminists, and that many Catholics denounce as an "anti-family" rally and human rights advocates consider an endorsement of China's repressive system.

Her presence, however, has added weight to a conference with aspirations that may exceed expectations but which began Monday with a stirring speech by Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. She told the opening assembly it is time to eradicate the practice of female infanticide, a crime common in nations like China, where parents are permitted one child and want a boy.

"The cries of the girl child reach out to us," Bhutto said. "This conference needs to create a climate where a girl child is as welcome and valued as a boy child."

On Tuesday afternoon, Mrs. Clinton will deliver her keynote speech to the assembly. It is expected to dwell on global abuses against women and government efforts to provide them better health care. U.S. officials did not expect her to single out China for its policy of forced abortions.

On Wednesday she intends to visit the controversial Women's Forum at Huairou, an hour's drive from Beijing, where some groups have hinted they may use the spotlight on her visit to publicize their own causes and embarrass Chinese security forces.

The small farming town has become a beehive of 5,000 workshops and seminars attended by 23,000 delegates from global grass-roots non-governmental organizations. Among the organizations are lesbian and prostitute lobbying groups, Tibetan exiles who denounce China for human rights abuses in the Himalayan kingdom, abused wives, and the rape victims of past and current wars.

Only a few hours before Mrs. Clinton's plane landed, 2,000 women at Huairou defied Chinese authorities and demonstrated in silence for peace.

The women were dressed in black robes and carried lighted candles and lamps. At least 150 of the demonstrators spilled into the street, despite police warnings to confine their protests to the restricted space allotted them. Police did not interfere.

Earlier, British delegation leader Baroness Chalker spoke bluntly, telling reporters: "This is a UN conference, not a Chinese conference. If they invite the UN they should keep to UN rules."

Chinese authorities, afraid the forum's talks may infect Chinese citizens, have broken up meetings, confiscated literature and harassed and shadowed delegates.

On Monday, a phalanx of Chinese security personnel stopped South Africa's Winnie Mandela and dozens of African delegates from gaining access to the Great Hall of the People, where China's leader Jiang Zemin was opening the conference with a speech during which he said: "Women have made a special contribution to the reproduction of the human race."

Mandela, chairwoman of the African Women's League, and her African entourage remained at the entrance of the Great Hall for an hour while, inside, three orchestras played Beethoven's "Ode to Joy," followed by a Chinese song titled, "Guests from far away please stay."

"They made me wait two hours at the airport and now they barred me from going to the opening ceremony," complained Mandela, the estranged wife of South African President Nelson Mandela. There was no explanation why Mandela was kept out of the hall.

After a football-style huddle, about 40 security men pushed Mandela and her delegates down the stairs of the Great Hall. A limousine whisked her away.

Inside the hall, the spectacle continued. The orchestra played "The Fallen Woman," an aria from Giuseppe Verdi's opera "La Traviata." It is the story of a loose woman who sacrifices herself for a man.

U.S. officials said they were worried the growing rift between host and guests was creating what U.S. Undersecretary for Global Affairs Timothy Wirth called an "unpredictable atmosphere."

In Washington, White House spokesman Michael McCurry said: "We regret the restrictions on free expression and association which have been occurring in Beijing. The first lady hopes those matters will be cleared up prior to her arrival."

China's government, whose priority remains domestic stability, refused to compromise after UN officials issued a 24-hour ultimatum, a deadline UN representatives later withdrew with the excuse it had been "misinterpreted."

The ruckus over excess policing has overshadowed a conference whose main slogan was to promote peace and equality. Its principal aim was to raise global awareness of the plight of women who comprise the bulk of the world's illiterate and poor. CAPTION: PHOTO: Hilary Rodham Clinton is greeted early Tuesday at the Beijing airport. She was to address the UN Conference on Women later in the day. AP photo.

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