U.S. President Bill Clinton is considering visiting China in June and may come to Japan on his way home, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said March 12 in Tokyo.
"I have been informed that President Clinton is contemplating a return visit (to China), perhaps in June," Carter told the committee for foreign policy and defense affairs in the House of Councilors. Carter, who came to Japan to attend the Common Agenda Open Forum, said that further improvement will be seen in the relationship between China and the United States when Clinton visits Beijing.
Clinton may make a stop in Japan to explain details of possible achievements in his meetings with Chinese leaders, Carter said. Clinton last visited Japan in April 1996, when he discussed with Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto the new role of a security alliance between Japan and the U.S. Carter said that for now and the immediate future, he does not see any danger of a military confrontation between China and Taiwan. "My judgment is that leaders in Taiwan and Beijing want to see the relationship between the two honored in a peaceful fashion," he said.