Word: mfn
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...between ideals and interests has produced a mush of mixed signals since Clinton took office. After saying before he was elected that he would deny MFN to China, Clinton continued the policy last May, but only conditionally. He threatened a cutoff this spring if Beijing's human-rights record failed to demonstrate "overall significant progress." It hasn't. Now, says House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Lee Hamilton, Clinton "can't renew MFN unless he lies...
Clinton faces four choices. He can revoke MFN, affirm America's moral principles and cripple Chinese-American commerce, which last year totaled almost $40 billion. Gone in the process would probably be any chance of enlisting Beijing's help in rolling back North Korea's nuclear-weapons program. Gone too would be approximately 200,000 high-paying U.S. export jobs, which is why Treasury, Commerce and White House economic officials favor retaining MFN...
...second course would distinguish between goods produced by private and , state-run enterprises. Privately made Chinese products would enjoy MFN; the rest wouldn't. "Sounds good, but it's hard to see it working," says Michel Oksenberg, who was Jimmy Carter's top China hand. "The Chinese have an infinite genius for changing labels. And what would happen to the investments of those U.S. firms involved in joint ventures only partially owned by the state, or to products made privately with components supplied by government concerns...
...engine eventually becomes the centerpiece of a Chinese cruise missile, the Garrett deal undermines the noisy debate over whether the U.S. should extend China's most-favored-nation status. Viewed against the backdrop of assurances by Secretary of State Warren Christopher that the Clinton Administration will cut off MFN unless China improves its human-rights behavior, the Garrett sale only reinforces Beijing's impression that U.S. demands are a charade...
...avert meting out substantive punishment to China without blatantly ignoring his firmly sated threat. In conjunction with an equally feckless bunch of Congressional co-conspirators, Clinton has seized on the idea of "restricted sanctions" as a sufficiently deceptive device for accomplishing his duplicitous goals. China will not lose MFN status outright; nor will Clinton admit that the calculus of his government places trade relationships over human rights...