The head of China's Communist Party says the massacre of protesters in Tiananmen Square last June should not stand in the way of economic and cultural cooperation with the United States. ``If both sides face realities and make efforts to remove the misunderstandings, which have not been created by us, we will have broad prospects in the future,'' Jiang Zemin, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, told U.S. News & World Report. ``I suggest that we look forward and try to find common ground,'' he said in the interview, appearing in the March 12 issue. ``In such fields as economic exchanges, cultural contacts and other areas there is still a lot of room for more cooperation.'' But Jiang emphasized: ``We do not regret, or criticize ourselves for the way we handle, the Tiananmen event. ``We believe it to be an internal affair while the U.S. is saying that we have gone against U.S. values and the American view of human rights.'' Jiang said continuing tensions with the United States resulted from ``a big misunderstanding'' created by inaccurate media accounts and a limited perspective on the part of the U.S. government and people. Jiang, who became party chief last June amid international condemnation of the Chinese government's actions, said his government would continue to welcome foreign investment and open the country to the outside world. ``Because business is not based only on one track, you have to take the long-term view,'' said Jiang. Continued economic development in his country would help change U.S. and international opinion of China, he said. The government also would gradually move away from the egalitarianism associated with socialist economic enterprises, Jiang said, by stepping up its policy of incentive and bonus pay. Jiang said it was contradictory for the United States to criticize China's use of troops in Tiananmen Square while saying it understood why the Soviet Union sent troops to quell riots between ethnic groups in Azerbaijan and Armenia. Additionally, he criticized the U.S. invasion of Panama and capture of Manuel Noriega as ``a manifestation of power politics.''
