THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, March 23, 1995               TAG: 9503230576
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: QINGDAO, CHINA                     LENGTH: Short :   40 lines

U.S. WARSHIP DOCKS IN CHINA THE PORT CALL WAS THE NAVY'S FIRST SINCE DEMONSTRATORS WERE KILLED IN 1989.

As a Chinese military band played ``The Star Spangled Banner'' on shore, the guided-missile cruiser Bunker Hill sailed into port Wednesday on the first visit by an American warship since China's 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.

Chinese sailors lined up on the decks of nearby destroyers to welcome the ship.

The United States suspended military relations with China after its army attacked demonstrators in Beijing on June 4, 1989, killing hundreds. High-level talks resumed in 1993, and Defense Secretary William Perry visited China last fall.

Rear Adm. Bernard J. Smith, commander of the Navy's Carrier Group Five, called the Bunker Hill's port call a friendship visit and insisted there was nothing political about it.

``We regard the Chinese navy as a friendly navy,'' Smith said. U.S. Navy officials know little about how their Chinese counterparts operate, and Smith said they hoped to learn more during the Bunker Hill's visit.

Chinese sailors and officers were taken on tours of the 567-foot Bunker Hill and shown the Ticonderoga-class cruiser's missile-launching system, gun mounts, combat information center and pilot house. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS

A Chinese naval officer poses with American sailors David Humphreys,

left, and Isaac Anthony in front of the cruiser Bunker Hill. The

U.S. ship's homeport is Yokosuka, Japan.

by CNB