Clinton touts U.S.-Chinese ties at Shanghai Expo before tough diplomacy over North Korea

Clinton tours Expo ahead of tough Beijing talks

SHANGHAI — Facing an uphill diplomatic struggle to win China’s support for penalizing its ally North Korea over the sinking of a South Korean warship, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday visited the World Expo in Shanghai to highlight U.S.-Chinese ties.

With a day devoid of policy meetings, Clinton toured the U.S. and Chinese pavilions at the Expo, extolling the virtues of cooperation between the two countries in a cultural diplomacy charm offensive. Displaying the energy of the politician she once was, Clinton waded into crowds at the two exhibits, shaking hands and posing for photos.

Clinton’s visit to the massive World Expo on the banks of the Huangpu river marked a respite from an otherwise hectic and intense three-nation journey to Asia that took her briefly to Japan on Friday and will see her move in China from Shanghai to Beijing on Sunday and then to the South Korean capital of Seoul on Wednesday.

At each stop, the ship incident will dominate her agenda but nowhere more than in Beijing where she and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are leading a delegation of nearly 200 U.S. officials for high-level U.S.-Chinese talks.

That second round of the so-called “Strategic and Economic Dialogue” was supposed to be the main thrust of her trip. But with the release of a report on Thursday blaming Pyongyang for sinking the South Korean vessel, her main task is now persuading China to support U.N. Security Council action against North Korea.

China, North Korea’s primary ally and financial supporter, has been neutral on the conclusions of the report that found Pyongyang responsible for firing a torpedo that sank the South Korean ship Cheonan in March, killing 46 sailors. On Saturday, the U.N. Command’s Military Armistice Commission, which oversees the 1953 Korean War truce agreement, said it would review the findings of the report and determine the scope of North Korea’s armistice violation.

In Tokyo on Friday, Clinton said the evidence was “overwhelming” that North Korea was behind the sinking and that the communist country must face international consequences. “We cannot allow this attack on South Korea to go unanswered by the international community,” she said.

North Korea denies it was responsible for the sinking and has threatened to retaliate against any attempt to punish it with “all-out war.”

Chinese officials have appealed for calm, calling the sinking “unfortunate.” But they have stopped short of backing Seoul in the growing dispute, instead reiterating long-standing views on the need to maintain peace on the peninsula. As a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, China’s backing for any U.N. Security Council move will be key.

U.S. officials traveling with Clinton say she will push Chinese leaders to “acknowledge the reality” of what happened and support measures to convince the North to change its behavior.

On Saturday, Clinton was mum about the ship incident but made clear she hoped the U.S. pavilion would promote greater understanding and goodwill between Washington and Beijing, as well as between the Chinese and American people. She said she would carry “very positive feelings” about U.S.-China ties from Shanghai to the talks in Beijing.

“We think government-to-government relations are very important but we believe people-to-people relations between the Chinese and American people are the most important foundation for a very positive future between our two countries,” she told the local Communist Party chief after visiting the Chinese Pavilion.

Clinton has been a major advocate of cultural diplomacy and is credited with salvaging U.S. efforts to raise money to build a pavilion in Shanghai. The federal government is barred from spending money on the event, and Clinton led the drive to raise $61 million from corporations and private sponsors to pay for the pavilion.

The exhibit has proven wildly popular, according to U.S. officials who say it has logged more than 500,000 mostly Chinese visitors since it opened two weeks ago.

It features a pair of short feel-good films welcoming Chinese visitors and a multimedia presentation showcasing American ingenuity and persistence in the face of adversity. There is no overt mention of democracy or personal freedoms, but officials say the displays promote them subtly by focusing on America’s multicultural experience and community values.