RICHARD NIXON: 1913-1994 : Clinton Plans Brief Stay for Funeral : Itinerary: The President will fly in just before the services and will leave hours later. He plans no formal discussions with foreign dignitaries.

WASHINGTON —  President Clinton’s trip to California for the funeral of former President Richard Nixon will be a brief one, and he will hold no substantive discussions with foreign leaders who may attend the service, White House officials said Monday.

Although the State Department invited all current heads of state to the Wednesday funeral at the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda, no foreign leader currently in office is expected to attend, according to a senior White House source.

Clinton will arrive at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station less than an hour before the funeral and will leave California 2 1/2 hours after it ends. He plans to meet privately with Nixon family members before the rites and will attend two closed receptions afterward, officials said.

While the receptions may provide an opportunity for informal encounters with foreign dignitaries, including the current Chinese ambassador and the recently resigned Japanese prime minister, no substantive foreign policy business will take place, officials said.

“The President senses it would be in bad taste to hold any bilateral (talks) there, so there just won’t be any,” said a senior member of the Administration’s foreign policy team.

The State Department’s protocol office over the weekend created a “Nixon task force” to coordinate the invitation of foreign leaders to the funeral.

A spokeswoman said that 40 foreign delegations were scheduled to come. But she said that the identities of most of the attendees were being kept confidential for reasons of protocol and security.

White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers said that Russian Deputy Premier Alexander N. Shokhin, former British Prime Minister Edward Heath, former Israeli President Chaim Herzog and former Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa are expected to attend.

Hosokawa was forced to resign earlier this month because of allegations of financial improprieties.

China will be represented by Li Daoyu, Beijing’s ambassador to Washington, according to a State Department official.

Chinese Premier Li Peng has been traveling in Central Asia, and President Jiang Zemin visited the United States last November. They were unavailable to attend the Nixon rites.

Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott will attend; Secretary of State Warren Christopher left Sunday for a weeklong trip to Europe and the Middle East.

Other top Administration officials and the Democratic congressional leadership will accompany Clinton to California aboard Air Force One.

The backup presidential 747 is being made available to transport former Nixon Cabinet members and other VIPs, while Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas will fly with top congressional Republicans aboard a third government aircraft.

The other living ex-presidents--Jimmy Carter, George Bush, Ronald Reagan and Gerald R. Ford--will travel privately to Orange County, officials said.

Nixon’s first vice president, Spiro T. Agnew, also will attend the services. Agnew, who resigned the vice presidency in 1973 after pleading no contest to charges of tax evasion, asked Julie Nixon Eisenhower if he would be welcome at the service and was told that he would be, according to a knowledgeable source.

Nixon’s body will arrive at El Toro at 12:35 p.m. PDT today from Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, N.Y., aboard the same converted Air Force 707 that took him to California after he resigned the presidency in 1974.

The same plane, with tail number 27000, bore the body of Nixon’s wife, Pat, to California after she died last June.

Nixon will be interred next to her on the grounds of the Nixon Library.