Clinton’s Chinese Puzzle

China is not making President Clinton’s fight in Congress for open trade between the two countries easy. It has threatened Taiwan militarily as the island approaches Saturday’s presidential election. On its own turf China has chalked up a miserable human rights record. That means it is playing directly into the hands of U.S. congressional members who link better trading relations to human rights and regional security issues. But this also presents an opportunity for Clinton to convince doubters that he can pursue open trade, stand firmly behind Taiwan and push for human rights improvements at the same time.

Contrary to the opponents of open trade with China--a broad grouping of protectionists, organized labor, human rights advocates and environmentalists--the United States would not be weakening its security position in Asia by granting China permanent trade privileges. Nor would it be abandoning its push for human rights in China. Washington can and should proceed on all these fronts.

Taiwan needs strong support from Washington as its voters prepare to go to the polls to decide a closely contested presidential race. Beijing, with a barely disguised intent to meddle in the electoral process, has threatened Taiwan with a military attack if it drags its feet on negotiating unification. The saber rattling across the Taiwan Strait has not dampened the robust presidential campaign, but it did heighten insecurity on the island and may well influence the outcome.

China’s threats clearly undermine the wobbly “one country / two systems” principle on which the mainland and Taiwan have coexisted for decades. Under that principle, unification can be achieved only by peaceful negotiation. To back Taiwan, Clinton has to do more than repeat Washington’s opposition to the use of force. He must strengthen military alliances not only with Taiwan but also with other countries in Asia.

Clinton is just as feckless in the pursuit of human rights improvement in China. The State Department’s annual report for 1999 says China’s “human rights record deteriorated markedly throughout the year.” Hundreds of political dissidents belonging to embryonic political groups or the Falun Gong spiritual movement have been imprisoned, a clear sign that Beijing pays no heed to the ire expressed in the U.S. Congress. Clinton is rightly asking for United Nations condemnation of China, but he will fail, as he has in the past, unless he rallies other countries in support.

Beijing’s decision to open China’s economy to outsiders has produced dramatic changes in society over the last two decades. The regime is increasingly forced into playing by someone else’s rules--those of outside investors and trading partners. That process would be speeded up by the admission of China into the World Trade Organization. Now it is up to Clinton to demonstrate to skeptics that opening trade to China does not mean the United States has to yield an inch on security or human rights.