America's China Policy in the Age of the Finance Minister: Clinton Ends Linkage

Abstract

It turned out that MFN was useful as a tool only to bludgeon George Bush. Democratic Staff Member in the House of RepresentativesPresident Clinton's determination to put economic policy at the heart of our foreign policy is evident in the areas where we have succeeded…. Secretary of State Warren ChristopherIn Asia – excluding Japan – they will spend a trillion dollars in infrastructure of all types in the next decade. That's a Century Freeway every week…. I'm from Texas. I'm used to big. But it is difficult to comprehend how big that market is and how those economies are transforming. Secretary of Treasury Lloyd Bentsen speaking in California[President Clinton has] enmeshed himself in a web of his own spinning… If a politician always sets such deadlines, then he will only have his own hands and feet bound. Chinese Foreign Minister Qian QichenThe United States maintains a triple standard. For their own human rights problems they shut their eyes. For some other countries’ human rights questions they open one eye and shut the other. And for China, they open both eyes and stare. Chinese Finance Minister Liu ZhongliIn the end, economic interests won the day. It wasn't really even close…. This is the age of the Finance Minister. Thomas L. Friedman, journalist