MFN Greeted with a Yawn in China

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Days after declaring an unprecedented $3 billion in sanctions against Beijing for product piracy, President Clinton said Monday that he planned to renew China's trade status as a Most Favored Nation. Extending MFN trade benefits is not a reward for good behavior, said the President, but the only pragmatic solution given Beijing's growing military and economic strength in Asia. Vital security and economic interests make it essential for the U.S. to maintain a relationship with China and its booming market, Clinton said in a speech to the Pacific Basin Economic Council, an Asian trade group.

Clinton's announcement was a minor blip on the screen in China, says TIME's Mia Turner in Beijing, because the Chinese have long expected to be granted MFN status. At a Foreign Ministry Press briefing on Tuesday, the Chinese official line was simply that the United States had made a wise decision. But there is still considerable dissatisfaction with the U.S. in Beijing. Trade officials there are are angry that the MFN status has only been renewed for one year, and are still upset over last week's trade sanctions. "The Chinese are reacting very strongly to the sanctions," says Turner. "They are very angry. Every day there are new articles about how angry they are and how they are going to retaliate." Last week's multi-billion tit- for-tat tariffs threatened an all-out trade war between the two nations. Whether renewing MFN brings them back from the brink, it will likely face bipartisan resistance in Congress, where members of both parties oppose granting MFN due to China's human rights abuses, trade piracy and sales of nuclear materials. the right to marry a person of the same sex Josh Dubow