Foreign Policy of The Bill Clinton Administration - People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

In 1995, tense relations with China and the imprisonment of an innocent American in the Communist nation, led to pressure for the U.S. to boycott the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. The U.S. delegation, chaired by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and Madeleine Albright, then the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, was assigned with the task of confronting China about its human rights abuses, but not so strongly as to damage sensitive relations. Hillary Rodham Clinton gave a successful speech before the entire Chinese leadership and the Conference where she, without bringing up China or any particular nation, attacked human rights abuses against humanity in general, and women and girls in particular.

In 1999 Clinton signed a landmark trade agreement with the People's Republic of China. The agreement–the result of more than a decade of negotiations–would lower many trade barriers between the two countries, making it easier to export U.S. products such as automobiles, banking services, and motion pictures. The Chinese citizens ability to afford and purchase U.S. goods should have been taken into consideration. However, the agreement could only take effect if China was accepted into the WTO and was granted permanent "normal trade relations" status by the U.S. Congress. Under the pact, the United States would support China's membership in the WTO. Many Democrats as well as Republicans were reluctant to grant permanent status to China because they were concerned about human rights in the country and the impact of Chinese imports on U.S. industries and jobs. Congress, however, voted in 2000 to grant permanent normal trade relations with China.