It Wasn't That Bad
The reaction here to the secretary of state's hard-edged mission to Beijing has been wildly exaggerated. The discussions were tough and the atmosphere frosty, but this was neither a policy debacle nor the "humiliation" press reports have portrayed.</br></br>Christopher laid out in detail what he felt the Chinese had to hear and matched them diplomatic rebuff for rebuff. Progress was made on some points. The U.S. position remained firm. Humiliation, if it were to come, would spring from what happens next.</br></br>Reading the criticisms, one might think that President Clinton invented the linkage between most-favored-nation trade status and China's human rights record. To the contrary, he inherited a legacy of bruising battles between George Bush and Congress that ended each year in a presidential veto.</br></br>After having made things more difficult with campaign rhetoric about coddling dictators, Clinton garnered applause last spring for a policy that deftly threaded the needle between a Congress still angry about Tiananmen Square and recognition of the overriding importance of the U.S.- Chinese relationship.</br></br>The decision separated trade and nonproliferation concerns from the annual MFN review because other legal tools could advance those interests. This narrowed and clarified the contested terrain, responding to China's complaints of constantly moving goal posts. It may also have unintentionally highlighted the most sensitive issue.