WORLD : China Rights Shift Seen in Talks

BEIJING — The United States’ senior human rights official and Chinese authorities ended ground-breaking talks today, with U.S. participants saying they believe China is changing its hard-line stance on political dissidents.

One participant, U.S. Ambassador to China James Lilley, said he perceived a sea change in the Chinese attitude during the two days of talks between delegations headed by Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights Thomas Schifter and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Tian Zengpei.

“It was an effort to meet us halfway, certainly in atmospherics,” Lilley told reporters.

Since a crackdown on dissent 18 months ago, Chinese officials had told the Americans to mind their own business, he said. This time, a State Department official said, “we were not told to stuff it.”