Policy Debate Over China
Jim Mann’s June 24 column implies that the only way to improve human rights in China is through isolation, and that we should suspend normal trade relations (known as most-favored- nation status) until satisfactory progress is made. This view ignores reality and would result in exactly the opposite effect on China by isolating it from Western thought.
We all have the same goal--a China that operates in the family of nations respecting fundamental human rights, fair play and international law. I am no more an apologist for China than Richard Nixon was in 1972 when he spearheaded a policy of engagement rather than isolation. The question is how can the U.S. best encourage change.
Is China’s political system authoritarian? Yes. Does the Chinese government abuse human rights? Yes, and Bao Tong’s and Wei Jingsheng’s cases are examples of how far China still has to go. During the last two trips to China I and other senators discussed these and other human rights cases as well as the issues of Taiwan and Tibet with China’s top leaders, explaining the American point of view in very frank conversations. While no one went there expecting immediate results from these discussions, this open dialogue plays a crucial role in helping the Chinese understand the importance Americans place on human rights. Trade encourages positive change.
Mann questions assertions that China is changing. The State Department’s 1995 Human Rights Report says: “[In 1995] Chinese society continued to open up: greater disposable income, looser ideological controls and freer access to outside sources of information have led to greater room for individual choice, more diversity in cultural life and increased media reporting.” The report, while rightfully critical of China’s continued human rights violations, outlined some of the key changes underway, including participation in direct elections at the local level; judicial and criminal reforms capable of supporting due process of law; and legislation passed to end administrative detention whereby people are jailed without recourse.
Either we engage China or we try to isolate it. By revoking MFN and walking away from the table, we do the latter.
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN
D-Calif.
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