CHINA: The country says it is prepared...

CHINA: The country says it is prepared to lose most-favored-nation trade status with the United States rather than bow to U.S. pressure on human rights and weapons proliferation. “The Chinese side will never accept the attachment of various conditions to the extension of the most-favored-nation treatment,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wu Jianmin said. His pronouncement was the strongest yet opposing U.S. attempts to link political issues to renewal of the lucrative trade status for China. The special trade status grants Chinese imports the lowest possible tariffs. President Bush must make a recommendation on the issue by June 3. The Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade denied reports that China actively encourages exporting products made by prison labor and argued that China has made great progress in the past decade in protecting U.S. trademarks and copyrights.