Abstract

China's Economic Miracle Runs Out

As the June 3, 1994 deadline nears for U.S. President Bill Clinton to decide whether to renew once again China's most favored nation (M.F.N.) trading status, the pressure is building from corporate America to forget about China's continuing repression of democracy activists, Tibetan nationalists and other opponents of China's one-party state. Clinton, who during the 1992 presidential campaign attacked former U.S. President George Bush for "coddling tyrants" in Beijing, has openly expressed sympathy for business's concerns, and appears ready to hand Beijing, China M.F.N., with perhaps some face-saving but largely symbolic and unenforceable limitations. Meanwhile, however, a growing number of China experts are quietly saying that the "fastest-growing market in the world" may be about to crash.