China’s Trade Status in Doubt, U.S. Says : Human rights: Secretary of State Christopher declares Beijing’s recent gestures and possible prisoner release still fall short.

On the eve of talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen, Secretary of State Warren Christopher said Sunday that Beijing has not yet met conditions to renew its preferential trading status with the United States, despite recent gestures and unconfirmed reports of the possible imminent release of political prisoners.

Christopher also cautioned against high expectations about the outcome of the U.S.-Chinese talks today.

“We don’t have to decide right now. It’s a yearlong test,” he said during a press briefing. “At the present time they have not met the conditions of the executive order, but they were not intended to meet it by January.”

China has until June to improve its human rights record, a precondition for renewal of the “most favored nation” trade and tariff benefits critical to its economy.

The United States accounts for about one-third of all Chinese exports. Without MFN status, tariffs would increase from an average of 8% to about 40%.

But Christopher suggested that a series of meetings between U.S. and Chinese officials is “a very positive sign.”

The Clinton Administration is in the midst of a full-court press to convince China that it will refuse to renew MFN without progress on several human rights issues.

Those issues include ending exports produced by prison labor; freedom of emigration; release of, or accounting for, political prisoners; the free flow of radio and television broadcasts into China, and protection of the religious and cultural heritage of Tibet.

The session today will be the fourth meeting between Christopher and Qian since an Administration strategy of constructive engagement was launched six months ago.

The next four months are widely considered critical in improving U.S.-Chinese relations, which have been rocky since Beijing’s crackdown on dissent during the 1989 Tian An Men Square pro-democracy demonstrations.

A senior official traveling with Christopher said that the strategy is beginning to show results, but he added: “I want to equally emphasize that there is a considerable distance to go.”

Despite the high visibility of the issue, China has not significantly softened one of the world’s most hard-line policies on human rights.

The Administration fears Beijing believes Washington will buckle as the deadline approaches and not follow through on its trade threats.

In fact, the Administration recently permitted the sale of three satellites to China, despite sanctions imposed last August after Beijing reportedly sold M-11 missile technology to Pakistan.

Still, the senior U.S. official said, “the unity of the Congress and the President on this subject is unique. It is something that has not been seen in the past and I think the Chinese are beginning to understand that this is not something they can pretend is going to go away easily.”

China has taken small steps in recent weeks.

Tibetan political prisoners were released earlier this month in the capital of Lhasa, an area of particularly ruthless control.

Talks are now underway with the Red Cross about visits to Chinese prisons.

And during the visit last week of Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen, Beijing announced that it will allow U.S. Customs officials to inspect five prisons suspected of producing goods for export to the United States, in violation of U.S. law.

Hong Kong television also reported Sunday that China may release Wang Juntao, a leading organizer of the Tian An Men Square demonstrations, and other political prisoners.