Clinton Assails Arrest of China Dissidents : Human rights: Some Western diplomats see Beijing’s action as a direct slap at the United States.

President Clinton on Friday sharply protested a sudden crackdown on dissidents by China, just one week before a planned trip to Beijing by Secretary of State Warren Christopher.

“We strongly disapprove what was done, and it obviously was not helpful to our relations,” said Clinton, whose Administration must decide by June whether to continue preferential trade status for China.

Some Administration officials hinted that the crackdown might even prompt the cancellation of Christopher’s visit.

This week, Chinese police have conducted a roundup of dissidents, including the arrest Friday of well-known democracy activist Wei Shingjeng. Wei was released today, according to the Reuters news agency.

But, coming just at the close of a trip to China by John Shattuck, an assistant secretary of state and the top U.S. human rights official, the action was interpreted by some Western diplomats as a direct slap at the United States--and a new threat to the troubled relationship between the two countries.

Clinton, addressing the issue in a news conference with visiting Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk, said he “wouldn’t presume to know what motivated the Chinese government.”

But, he added, “the observance of basic human rights is an important thing to us, along with non-proliferation, along with fair trade rules, and that was certainly not a helpful action.”

Administration officials have said they will not renew the trade benefits, known as “most favored nation” status, unless China makes significant overall progress on human rights.

Christopher has said publicly that, as things stand now, Beijing would not qualify for renewal of most-favored status. But other officials have said privately in recent days that they believe China could still win the special treatment.

Revocation would drive average tariffs up from the level now of about 8% to about 40%. That would jolt businesses and consumers in both economies, since the United States receives about one-third of all Chinese exports.

Wei, who in 14 years in prison became a symbol of China’s democracy movement, called an associate from Changping county, north of the capital Beijing, to say he was free, Reuters reported.

As many as eight other dissidents were detained this week, including Wang Dan, a student leader during the 1989 Tian An Men protests.

At a State Department briefing, spokeswoman Christine Shelly praised Wei’s personal courage and commitment to the “nonviolent expression of political views.”

“We would look with particular gravity upon any decision by Chinese authorities to subject Mr. Wei to additional suffering for the exercise of fundamental freedoms recognized by the world community,” Shelly said.

She refused to rule out the possibility that Christopher’s scheduled stop in Beijing during his visit to Asia might be scrapped.

Shelly said that if reports of the arrests are true, it would be a “setback” and “it would represent a most unfortunate setting for Secretary Christopher’s planned discussions in Beijing.”

Christopher left Friday on the Asia trip, which will take him to Hawaii, Japan and Korea.

On the China stop, Christopher is expected to warn that only with greater progress on human rights can China hope to continue receiving preferential treatment for its billions of dollars in trade with the United States.