A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

it , '' Kantor said . `` You can find no correlation between the size of the tra

de deficit and whether or not you 're creating or not creating employment , '' h

e said . `` What has worried us most about the closed markets in Japan , and wha

t the framework talks are aimed at , are those sectors where we have the highest

 potential growth : semiconductors , electronics , computers , super-computers ,

 auto and auto parts , services like insurance and financial services . '' In an

other candid observation , Kantor said America 's trade gap with China ultimatel

y could rival in size the troublesome deficit with Japan . Speaking just a week 

after Clinton announced renewal of Beijing 's most-favored-nation trade status ,

 he said tough negotiations lie ahead to ensure China complies with internationa

l trade laws as it grows into a trading powerhouse . `` If we don't continue to 

be aggressive and work with China on a day-to-day basis and , in fact , insist t

hat they adhere to the same norms as the rest of the major nations .. . who have

 access to our market , then yes , we 're going to create a problem for ourselve

s , '' he said . Kantor said he met with China 's ambassador to the United State

s on Thursday , and engaged in a `` very candid discussion '' on trade issues . 

In Friday 's breakfast session at the Times Washington Bureau , Kantor complaine

d about China 's refusal to abide by international rules governing intellectual 

property rights . He cited in particular rampant production of bootleg versions 

of Western music . `` They don't protect intellectual property , '' Kantor said 

. `` They have 26 plants in Southern China which last year produced 75 million c

ompact discs , only 2 million of which were consumed in China 73 million were ex

ported . '' And it 's not just the U.S. music industry that is being hurt , he s

aid . `` It is also computer software , computer hardware , pharmaceuticals , yo

u name it . That 's a serious situation we have to address . '' Kantor 's remark

s contrast with those of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown , who said last month that

 the renewal of most-favored-nation status would help shrink or even eliminate A

merica 's growing trade deficit with China . In 1993 , the United States logged 

a $ 23 billion deficit with China , second only to the gap with Japan . Critics 

have warned that future growth of U.S. exports to China will not offset the pote

ntial expansion of imports from multinational corporations that relocate manufac

turing plants in China to take advantage of the country 's extremely low wages .

 ( Optional add end ) Meanwhile , Kantor said the administration is beginning to

 rethink U.S. policy toward exports of American cigarettes and other tobacco pro

ducts . At a time when the tobacco industry is facing mounting pressure at home 

, it has seen international markets as an important source of future profits and

 growth . But Kantor said the administration has already reversed a Bush adminis

tration policy by no longer opposing efforts by other nations to block sales of 

U.S. cigarettes because of local health and safety regulations . Before the poli

cy shift , the United States objected to such obstacles on the grounds that they

 represented unfair trading rules . `` Past administrations would , from time to

 time , challenge health-based regulations or advertising prohibitions regarding

 cigarettes used by other countries as a burden on trade , '' Kantor said . `` W

e willn't do that . We 've changed our policy . If it 's a legitimate health-bas

ed standard or an advertising prohibition that affects all cigarettes , then we 

will not challenge those . '' Kantor said the administration would not attempt t

o reverse such policies as long as American brands are treated no different than

 local tobacco products . A Bush administration challenge to health-related rest

rictions imposed by Taiwan on cigarette sales already has been allowed to lapse 

, Kantor said . He indicated that other countries , which he would not identify 

, could impose similar restrictions . Kantor said he has established a joint com

mittee with Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala to further study t

obacco trade policy .

 TOKYO Emperor Akihito said Friday that he feels grief for the millions who died

 or suffered during World War II , but he declined to say anything about Japan '

s role in starting the Pacific war or about the responsibility of his father , t

he late Emperor Hirohito . At a rare palace news conference prior to a state vis

it to the United States that begins next week , Akihito , 60 , and Empress Michi

ko , 59 , said their goal in America was simple : `` to advance our friendly rel

ations based on mutual understanding . '' The couple met the press in a large re

d-carpeted meeting room in the Imperial Palace , simply furnished and lined with

 traditional rice-paper shoji screens . Akihito wore a stylish , double-breasted

 , gray flannel suit . Michiko wore a dress of burnt amber with a glittering pea

rl-and-diamond brooch and a single strand of perfectly matched pearls around her

 neck . Under Japan 's postwar constitution , written by American occupation for

ces , the emperor is nothing more than a `` symbol of the state , '' with no gov

erning authority . His travels and speeches are decided for him by the nation 's

 political leadership . The upcoming 16-day trip , with stops in 11 American cit

ies , has become a political issue because of one stop the royal couple will not

 make . The government canceled Akihito 's visit to the USS Arizona Memorial in 

Honolulu , which commemorates the 2,400 Americans who died in the Japanese attac

k on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 , the event that started the war in the Pacif

ic . The cancellation was strictly a matter of domestic politics . The governmen

t reportedly feared that an imperial trip to Pearl Harbor might be taken as an a

pology for the surprise raid and there are some elements in Japanese society who

 strongly oppose any apology to Americans . Friday , Akihito declined to discuss

 the Pearl Harbor raid , and he ducked all questions dealing with Japan 's respo

nsibility for the war . Rather , he said , `` My heart grieves when I think of t

he many dead or wounded in the war , or those who had to bear great suffering . 

'' As with every public function of Japan 's royalty , the session was planned t

o the second and scripted to the last comma . Officials of the Imperial Househol

d Agency , the bureaucracy that overseas palace events , gave the reporters assi

gned seats and detailed instructions on the correct way to introduce oneself whe

n asking a question . Reporters were warned to turn off pagers , portable phones

 and alarm watches so that `` the atmosphere will not be spoiled with beeping . 

'' The questions for the session were written out in advance by the palace press

 corps using a stylized formal language rarely heard in normal conversation and 

assigned to individual reporters . The answers had been scripted by the bureaucr

acy ; both emperor and empress appeared to have memorized every word they said F

riday . I was assigned to read the question about the Pearl Harbor attack . It i

s impossible to convey in English the hierarchical honorifics the Japanese use w

hen talking to an emperor , but a direct translation of the question will give t

he general idea . `` I humbly direct my respectful question to his royal majesty

 , '' I began . `` What might your honorable opinion be , your highness , on the

 question of whether the Japanese military raid on Pearl Harbor in 1941 was just

ified ? '' Akihito handled this question the same way he likely will handle any 

specific question about the war during his visit to the United States : He decli

ned to answer . `` It is extremely important to get to the truth about these his

torical questions , '' he said . `` But in my position , I cannot comment on suc

h matters . ''

 TOKYO Japanese Emperor Akihito evaded questions on Friday about the `` war resp

onsibility '' of his father , the late Emperor Hirohito , and whether Japan 's 1

941 attack on Pearl Harbor was justified . But in a scripted news conference , h

e said that an awareness of `` the lives that were lost , the wounds that were i

nflicted , the feelings of those suffered anguish never disappears from my heart

 however many years and months pass . '' The statement referred to the war that 

Japan began in China in 1931 , expanded into World War II with its attack on Pea

rl Harbor in 1941 , and ended , as the emperor put it , `` many years and months

 ago '' in 1945 . He repeated the same thought in partial reply to both of the q

uestions that remain so sensitive in a country still divided over whether its ol

d record of colonialism and invasion constitute aggression or not . Just last mo

nth , a Cabinet minister was ousted for disclaiming World War II aggression . Pe

arl Harbor , originally included in an itinerary for a 17-day imperial tour of 1

1 American cities that will begin next Friday , was dropped from the schedule be

cause of fears of stirring political controversy in Japan . As to whether the su

rprise attack was justified `` considering the situation in 1941 , '' the empero

r said `` understanding correctly historical facts is very important . But in my

 position , I would like to refrain from commenting on this kind of problem . ''

 His father , Emperor Hirohito , he added , `` treated peace more importantly th

an anything , '' but `` acted by obeying the Constitution . I imagine he endured

 many hardships . '' Hirohito himself declared in 1971 that he had always acted 

as `` a constitutional monarch '' obeying decisions of the country 's political 

leaders , as his grandfather , the Emperor Meiji , had instructed him . It was i

n the name of Hirohito , who died in 1989 after a reign of 62 years , that Japan

 declared war on the United States shortly after its bombers raided Pearl Harbor

 . And it was in his name that Japan agreed to `` bear the unbearable '' in surr

ender four years later . Akihito , who was 8 when Pearl Harbor was attacked , wi

ll lay wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington and at the Punch Bow

l Cemetery in Honolulu . The emperor , 60 , said his wife , who collapsed on her

 59th birthday last Oct. 20 and lost the ability to speak , still has not recove

red completely . `` Her voice is still very weak and she gets rather tired when 

speaking , '' he said . `` I am worried about her because of the busy schedule i

n the United States and the burden it will impose upon her . '' He indicated she

 had remained stricken until about a month ago . ( Optional add end ) `` I canno

t say I have absolutely no unease in making this trip with its long schedule , '

' Michiko confessed in a voice so soft it often became inaudible . `` But I will

 do my best to take care of myself and perform my duties . '' Like almost all of

 the imperial couple 's appearances , the news conference was scripted from star

t to finish . Reporters read presubmitted questions , and though neither Akihito

 nor Michiko held any notes , both gave what appeared to be memorized answers . 

One reply did break the tone of studied tact . Asked by American reporters what 

concerns she had about her own country , Michiko appeared to criticize Japan for

 possessing only a passive desire for peace , for indulging in decadence and for

 losing its traditional value of courtesy . `` Peace is not merely the passive c

ondition of not being at war but rather an earnest desire and a strong will to c

ontinue the state of peace. .. . Wisdom and effort are necessary to realize this

 , '' she said , adding , `` It would be a source of joy if the thinking and the

 culture of the people should be directed not toward decadence but to a higher l

evel of strength and refinement and if we Japanese could always preserve a sense

 of modesty , respecting other people and other nations . ''

 TUNIS , Tunisia The Palestine Liberation Organization has conducted two rounds 

of meetings with the Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas and has received assuran

ces from a range of opposition organizations that they will not create clashes i

n the new autonomy zones , PLO leadership sources say . Hamas leaders , who met 

with an envoy of PLO chairman Yasser Arafat last week in Jordan , had appeared c

lose to an agreement for accepting seats on the new 25-member Palestinian Author

ity before the talks were derailed by leaks in Tunis and Amman , the sources sai

d . But Abbas Zaki , a leader of Arafat 's mainstream Fatah faction , said he wo

n assurances from radical groups such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of

 Palestine-General Command which had called for the streets to be washed in Araf

at 's blood in the wake of his accord with Israel that opponents will mount no a

ttacks against the PLO leader or members of the new Palestinian Authority . `` T

hey will not join , '' he said in an interview , after meeting with opposition l

eaders such as Nayef Hawatmeh of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Pale

stine , Abu Ali Mustafa of the Popular Front and two leaders of the PFLP-GC . ``

 But they let me know that if we deal with them in good will , and allow everybo

dy to have his own opinion , we can prevent any clashes. .. . ' ' Arafat so far 

has packed the governing authority with his supporters , most from his Fatah org

anization and the tiny Palestinian Democratic Union , which also backs the peace

 plan with Israel . With 20 seats filled so far , the PLO chairman has left open

 the last bloc of seats in the hope of attracting the opposition into the peace 

fold . Key among those groups is Hamas , whose threat to continue a violent camp

aign against the Israeli occupation could derail the fledgling autonomy effort i

n Jericho and the Gaza Strip . ( Begin optional trim ) Zaki said he met with a H

amas delegation May 25 in Amman to try to learn the organization 's conditions f

or backing the peace effort . He said they discussed Hamas having seats on the r

uling council : `` I told them , ` Come . ' I offered to them the seats and I as

tonished them . They said , ` How many members ? ' I said , ` I don't know , but

 .. . maybe four or five . ' They said , ` Tell me , is there any condition from

 Israel or ( Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak ) Rabin ? ' I said to them , ` I rep

resent Arafat , and I don't know what Rabin wants . Arafat told me if you want ,

 it 's good. ' .. . They said , ` Please keep it a secret , we can study this wi

th our leadership and tell you after two days . '' ' Meantime , another delegati

on led by purported Hamas leader Sheik Said Bilal headed to Tunis for direct tal

ks with Arafat ; Zaki proceeded to Syria for meetings with left-wing opposition 

groups , in and out of the PLO fold . ( End optional trim ) Arafat advisers said

 after the Hamas meetings in Tunis that they believe there are factions within H

amas leaning toward cooperating with the peace agreement . They said part of the

 talks with Hamas focused on an attempt to win a pledge that there would be no m

ore attacks against Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel . ( Option

al add end ) The PLO pressed Hamas leaders for information on the perpetrators o

f the recent attack against two alleged collaborators , as well as the Hamas-cla

imed attack on two Israeli soldiers near the Gaza Strip . But PLO officials admi

tted there are few immediate hopes of persuading any opponents to join the autho

rity early on . `` The attempts are still going on . I don't want to say whether

 we succeed or fail . Even though some of these organizations declare they refus

e , that doesn't mean anything in politics . It 's a position to improve one 's 

conditions , '' said one senior Arafat adviser .

 In CLINTON-SUIT-ANALYSIS adv12 ( Denniston , Sun ) sub for 24th ( penultimate )

 graf ( Changing year from 1991 to 1981 ) xxx Fitzgerald . Powell , trying to dr

aft an opinion for the apparent majority , told Burger in mid-December 1981 : ``

 I am now prepared to defer to the wishes of you , Bill Rehnquist and Sandra , a

nd prepare a draft opinion holding that a president has absolute immunity from d

amage suit liability '' for the reasons he had spelled out in the broadest of al

l of his earlier drafts . PICK UP 25th ( last ) graf : He also xxx :

 NAIROBI , Kenya For two months , the world has looked on with horror at the gen

ocidal killing in Rwanda . But , in testimony to the limits of outsiders ' power

 , no international effort has been able to stop it . `` Enough of this blood , 

'' pleaded Pope John Paul II , and from Washington and London to the capitals of

 Africa , similar calls have echoed across the bloodied Rwandan countryside . Bu

t they have stopped not a bullet nor saved a life . Now , with the Rwandan Patri

otic Front closing in Friday on Gitarama seat of the interim government and batt

ling a defiant but crumbling army in the capital , Kigali , a rebel victory seem

s increasingly likely . Most human-rights groups even those with no particular a

ffinity for the rebels would welcome such a victory as the fastest way to stop t

he appalling massacre of civilians . When Kigali falls , it will join Kampala , 

Uganda , in 1978 , and Addis Ababa , Ethiopia , and Mogadishu , Somalia , in 199

1 , as the only African capitals in recent times to succumb to a rebel army . Ki

gali 's collapse will be a reminder of how much has changed in Africa since the 

not-so-distant days when European powers were willing to rush in troops to prop 

up their former colonies . Britain always stood ready to guarantee the stability

 of Kenya and still conducts military exercises here . France used troops at lea

st a dozen times to stave off coups in its former African colonies ; a decade ag

o , Paris might well have sent combatants into French-speaking Rwanda , whose mi

litary France armed and advised . As often as not , the mere landing of European

 troops in Africa was sufficient to restore order . But in Rwanda the world has 

done little more than shed a tear and shrug helplessly . Rwanda 's two former co

lonial masters , Germany and Belgium , have declined a U.N. request for help . O

nly three African nations Ethiopia , Senegal and Ghana have agreed to participat

e in an African peacekeeping force for Rwanda . But their offer of 2,100 troops 

fell far short of the 5,500 soldiers that the United Nations requested and it wa

s never clear who would equip or pay for the mission . What is apparent from the

 world 's reluctance to enter Rwanda , Western diplomats say , is that governmen

ts realize there is little they can do militarily to pacify dedicated , warring 

factions unless they are willing to bring to bear the full power of their guns .

 In Somalia , they weren't ; the lesson was a painful one . Somalia started as a

 humanitarian mission , just as any effort in Rwanda would . But when , inch by 

inch , the peacekeepers ' military resolve was tested as it surely would be in R

wanda the U.N. response was at first confused and timid . The more undefined the

 response became , the bolder the belligerents grew , until , in the end , they 

came to understand that none of the governments in the peacekeeping force had na

tional interests they were willing to stand and fight for in Somalia . The same 

scenario could be repeated in Rwanda , the most destitute of African countries .

 ( Optional add end ) Although the world will remain morally haunted by its pass

ivity , the fact is that politically , economically and militarily , Rwanda hold

s importance for not a single nation , except perhaps for neighboring Burundi . 

With peace talks between the rebels and the army having broken off in Kigali Thu

rsday and no future sessions planned , that leaves the international community t

o hope that one side or the other will achieve military dominance , thus ending 

the slaughter . But even if the predominantly Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front defe

ats the Hutu-controlled army , African observers are less than confident that Rw

anda 's troubles will be over .

 NETTUNO , Italy With the graves of nearly 8,000 young Americans arrayed in star

k symmetry before him , President Clinton Friday honored the generation that fou

ght to liberate Italy during World War II and summoned his own generation , `` t

he sons and daughters of the world they saved , '' to remember and honor their s

acrifice . Hundreds of American veterans of the Italian campaign some missing li

mbs , some tearful , all grown old listened in rapt silence as their struggles o

n Nettuno Beach and Anzio 50 years ago were remembered . John Shirley , a Califo

rnian who was part of the battle to break out of the beachhead and to liberate R

ome , vividly recounted the story of the bloody months on the Italian coast that

 produced nearly 30,000 Allied casualties . Clinton followed with a brief tribut

e , recalling not only the dead who are buried here in row upon row of graves ma

rked with simple white crosses or Stars of David , but the men and women who wen

t home to build up their nation . `` Fifty years later , we can see the differen

ce their generation has made , '' he said , `` America is strong ; freedom is on

 the march. .. . Our job is not only to praise their deeds but to pursue their d

reams ; not only to recall their sacrifice for freedom but to renew freedom 's p

romise once again . '' At the end , the silent crowd raised its eyes to the soun

ds of American jets , flying in the missing-man formation , and to the sight of 

Italian jets dropping a gentle blanket of green , red and white smoke , the colo

rs of the Italian flag , over the American graves as a final tribute . The cerem

ony , amid the 77 gently sloping acres of graves in the Sicily-Rome American Cem

etery , is the first of a series of commemorations the president will lead acros

s Italy , England and France , culminating June 6 at the 50th anniversary observ

ance of the Allied landing at Normandy . Many of the veterans here were thankful