Dealing with China

The United States seeks the economic and strategic advances of cooperation with China. But it is unclear whether this sensible diplomatic ambition can be consummated with a government as insistent on its own ways as the People's Republic. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton comes under increasingly heavy scrutiny at home to ensure that he goes about it in the right way.

The effort was not notably advanced this week in Beijing by Vice President Al Gore's visit. The question of whether Chinese officials directed money to Democratic candidates in 1996 is central. A finding by the FBI that China had done so could have convulsive political and diplomatic effects. Yet the vice president's party created the impression that Gore had not initially passed on such a warning to his hosts. It seems that for a while they were left to believe there would be no price for any interference in the American campaign.

Then, no substantive issue cuts closer than whether the United States is pursuing trade at the expense of human rights. Here, Gore suddenly found himself required to decide publicly whether and with how much enthusiasm to toast the signing of a couple of business deals. His embarrassment reflected the difficulty the United States has in conveying that rights, including Hong Kong and Tibet, count.

Dealing with China is hard and is about to get harder. There are signs of a building challenge to the Clinton "engagement" policy in both the Republican and Democratic parties. The opposition can draw on human rights constituencies, on unions and on elements alarmed by the notion of a rising and hostile power in Beijing. An early target may be the renewal of China's most- favored-nation trading status.

China's size and vigor compel the United States to pursue mutual benefits across a broad policy spectrum, not just in regional political conflicts, such as Taiwan and Korea. The possibilities of this repressive one-party state building a rule of law on its immense economic and social advances must be kept open. But the administration's wobbling has put it under a special burden. It must show that trade works for the United States, that "delinking" human rights does not mean downgrading them and that Washington will confront Chinese evasion of the rules on transfer of military technology.

-- The Washington Post