An Opening for China Policy

The House of Representatives has delivered a sensible foreign policy message to President Clinton: Move ahead with a broad range of contacts with China, a country too big and too important to box out of the world community.

In Tuesday’s 259-173 vote--a slightly tighter margin on the annual issue than last year’s--the House rejected an attempt to deny Beijing the designation of most favored nation in trade. The vote makes China a U.S. trade partner equal to all but a handful of countries and avoids a hurdle to more productive relations. While the honor is dubious, it does keep China inside the global trade tent and grants a certain amount of face.

But granting MFN status to the Asian giant is not enough. It does not provide the broad platform on which Washington can start to build a coherent, multifaceted China policy. That absence makes U.S.-Sino relations all too vulnerable to congressional politics. Witness the politicization of the trade issue on Capitol Hill during past years, with Congress railing at the White House, voting to deny MFN status on one occasion and then lacking the votes to overcome a veto--an exhausting, useless exercise that strains bilateral ties.

Add to the equation the continued eagerness of many in Congress to squeeze the relationship by attacking China’s failures in human rights and the problem is apparent. Is Clinton going to formulate China policy or will it be several hundred members of Congress?

It should be the president, and he should seize the current consensus in Washington that MFN is not the right vehicle for influencing the Chinese. With Chinese President Jiang Zemin scheduled to meet with Clinton in Washington this fall, the timing should be ripe for defining U.S. priorities and policies. These include issues of trade, copyright, arms sales and other big-power interests. Doing business with China promotes other opportunities. The House majority has sent the message.