Extravagant welcome for Clinton in Xian

Clinton receives the key to the city from Xian's mayor

XIAN, China (CNN) -- Scores of dancers in colorful silk robes helped welcome President Bill Clinton to China Thursday as part of an elaborate ceremony in the ancient city of Xian.

Speaking at the first event of his nine-day visit to China, Clinton included remarks aimed at his critics back home.

"There may be those here and back in America who wonder whether closer ties and deeper friendship between America and China are good," he said.

"Clearly the answer is yes," he continued. "We have a powerful ability to help each other grow. We can learn much from each other. And as two great nations, we have a special responsibility to the future of the world."

Clinton said Americans admire the Chinese for "your accomplishments, your economy, your hard work and vision, your efforts against hunger and poverty, your work with us on peace and stability in Korea and South Asia," Clinton said.

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But he also said "Respect for the worth, the dignity, the potential and the freedom of every citizen is a vital source of America's strength and success. In this global information age, where both economic growth and equal opportunity are based on ideas, a commitment to providing all human beings the opportunity to develop their full potential is vital to the strength and success of the new China as well."

U.S. critics of Clinton's trip had cited China's human rights record, including the 1989 crackdown on democracy protesters, as their reason for opposing his visit.

Clinton arrived in the sweltering central China city on Thursday evening after an 18-hour plane trip from Washington.

Clinton

Chinese hosts literally rolled out a red carpet and lined it with glowing red paper lanterns in the historic section of what is now a gritty industrial city. The mayor of Xian presented Clinton with a golden key to his city.

Crowds of onlookers lined the streets of Xian for a glimpse of Clinton, and security was stringent, with water cannons stationed on side streets.

Third Chinese dissident detained

Just hours before Clinton arrrived in Xian, a third Chinese dissident was detained by police, according to a Hong Kong human rights group.

The Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China issued a statement saying that police took Yang Haito an undisclosed location.

The center said Yan Jun and Li Zhiying, two other prominent dissidents, were rounded up Wednesday.

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Yan, whose whereabouts were also not clear, was among 70 dissidents who had urged Clinton in an open letter three days ago to meet Chinese dissidents during his visit, the group said.

Li, based in Cheng Cheng County near Xian, had been in close contact with dissidents in the city and is now detained in a guest house in the county, the center said.

The human rights group has urged Clinton to push Chinese leaders to release political prisoners, and raise the issue of human rights during each of his stops across China.

Clinton is scheduled to talk with ordinary Chinese citizens Friday in a roundtable discussion in the small village of Xia He near Xian. He'll also speak in the village square.

Afterward Clinton, his wife Hillary, and daughter Chelsea, will visit China's famous terra cotta warriors. The life- size statues were discovered in 1974 by a farmer digging a well, and date back more than 2,000 years, when they were built to protect an emperor's tomb.

The heart of the president's diplomatic visit to China will take place over the weekend when he meets with Chinese President Jiang Zemin in Beijing.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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