PERSPECTIVE ON CHINA : Contribute to Stability--With Strings : Beijing knows that it must have most-favored-nation status and would accept conditions.

I personally do not wish to see China lose its most-favored-nation trading status with the United States, for I believe trade is essential for democracy. However, I also believe that if favored status continues to be given to China unconditionally, while the regime brutally abuses its own people, it would benefit neither trade nor democracy. Congress and the President should continue MFN, but with firm contingent conditions that China release all of its political prisoners within a year and improve human-rights conditions generally.

Deng Xiaoping remains in favor of economic reform. This is the foundation of his accepting conditions on MFN status. While I was hiding in China in 1989, as police sought me for my participation in the democracy movement, a well-connected Communist official said to me: “Fang Lizhi (the physicist who was being protected at the U.S. Embassy) will be able to leave China safely because Deng Xiaoping is very concerned about keeping MFN.” Fang and his wife were allowed to leave shortly thereafter. This official went on to say that Deng had said that he would rather lose his premier, Li Peng, than MFN status. Hard-liners such as Wang Zhen and Bo I-Po fumed that if they let Fang Lizhi leave China, the authority of the Communist Party would be mortally wounded. However, Deng is smart enough to know that the economy is more worth protecting than is pride.

If the loss of MFN status leads to more serious problems for the already shaky economy, the multitude who will rise against the current regime will no longer be just students. An uprising of workers and peasants would be far tougher to contend with than the earlier democracy movement.

Without this fear of a general uprising, coupled with international pressure, Fang would still be trapped in China and more of the democracy activists would be imprisoned. Still, too many activists have received long sentences and still more are languishing in jail without trial.

The many talks I had with Chinese from all walks of life who aided me during my two years on the run (through five provinces and three cities) led me to conclude that adding human-rights conditions will strengthen the hands of the reform-minded members of the Chinese Communist Party in their struggle with the hard-liners.

The lack of such conditions on MFN status will only worsen the already difficult situation of those who favor democracy. The hard-liners will toughen their position and extend their oppression in all areas of life. This could not possibly be good for bilateral trade between China and the United States.