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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

David M. Lampton
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Extract

It turned out that MFN was useful as a tool only to bludgeon George Bush. Democratic Staff Member in the House of Representatives

President 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 Christopher

In 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 Qichen

The 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 Zhongli

In 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

Type
Issues in China's Foreign Relations
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 139 , September 1994 , pp. 597 - 621
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1994

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References

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30. Lampton, legislative branch interview, No. 7, 30 June 1994.

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46. Sciolino, “Clinton and China,” p. 8. In pursuit of this new strategy a series of high-level visits to China ensued: Assistant Secretary of State John Shattuck (October 1993 and February 1994); Agriculture Secretary Espy (October 1993); Assistant Secretary of Defense Chas Freeman (November 1993); the Clinton-Jiang meeting (November 1993); Secretary Christopher met Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen on five occasions in the 1993–94 period (most notably in March 1994, in Beijing); and Treasury Secretary Bentsen (January 1994). There were also many Chinese visits to the United States during this period, as noted below.

47. In November 1993, prior to the President's journey to Seattle, Professors Fred Bergsten, Michel Oksenberg and Robert Scalapino met President Clinton to brief him and a host of his most senior advisors on Asia and relations with China.

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68. Lampton, notes on public remarks of Song Jian, 15 April 1994, New York.

69. Devroy, Ann, “Clinton reverses course on China,” Washington Post, 27 May 1994, p. A 28Google Scholar; see also Greenberger and Frisby, “Clinton's renewal of trade status,” p. A 18.

70. Lampton, executive branch interview. No. 1, 21 June 1994.

71. Lord, ”Emerging malaise,” p. 2.

72. Lake, ”From containment to enlargement,” p. 5.

73. Ibid. p. 4.

74. Ibid. pp. 9–10.

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86. Unpublished, unclassified executive branch meeting chronology.

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89. Awanohara and Wu, “The China game,” p. 16. Also, Lampton, executive branch interviews, Nos. 3,4,5,10, June 1994; see also Breslau, Karen and Elliott, Michael, “Is Lord's work done?” Newsweek, 30 May 1994, pp. 51–52.Google Scholar

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