President Clinton and China

July 14, 1998 Now that President Clinton’s trip to China has come to an end, the American people need to assess what was accomplished and what was left undone. While the mainstream media is calling his trip a success, let’s consider the perspective of those who are less sanguine about the President’s performance.

Columnist William Safire wrote, "Never has a U.S. President traveled to Beijing at such a disadvantage." The President had reason to believe that the Chinese leaders had information about "the China connection" to his campaigns, but he did not know what they had. He also was aware that they knew more than anyone else how deeply they had penetrated the White House by Asian fronts for Chinese intelligence.

Was there a quid pro quo? Safire concluded that "even if China’s quid was not solely responsible for Clinton’s quo, the fact remains that secret Chinese money passed and U.S. policy changed. The unspoken truth haunting this summit is that China’s leaders have something on this President."

How effective was the President’s trip to China? President Clinton prayed alongside Chinese Christians in a church service and later criticized China’s human rights abuses on national television. But how seriously did the Chinese government take these actions?

The answer to these questions will come from his actions after the trip to China. Now is the time to engage China seriously on human rights, technology transfers, and its military buildup. If our words and actions demonstrate that we are serious, changes will come. If not, they will ignore our feeble demands.

I’m Kerby Anderson of Probe Ministries, and that’s my opinion.