China Should Keep Favorable Trade Status, Christopher Says

WASHINGTON —  The United States should continue to grant China favorable trade status and should attend a U.N. women’s conference in Beijing this fall, despite China’s arrest of American human rights activist Harry Wu, Secretary of State Warren Christopher said Sunday.

“We should condemn the detention of Mr. Wu under these circumstances, but at the same time I believe that most-favored-nation status is in our interest as well as being in Chinese interest,” Christopher said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Congress plans this month to take up the Administration’s decision to extend provisions giving China the low tariffs enjoyed by most U.S. trading partners, and some lawmakers are demanding that China be denied MFN status until Wu is released.

Wu, an American citizen who was born in China and spent 19 years in Chinese prisons, has been a leader in exposing Chinese prison labor practices. He was arrested upon entering China on June 19.

Christopher, although skirting questions about whether Wu had violated any Chinese laws, stressed that his prompt release “would be very conducive to U.S.-Chinese relations.” He said Wu’s detention “is really a thorn in the side of the U.S.-China relationship.”

The United States must maintain its ties to China, he said. “It is a very powerful and important country. We want to be engaged with them.”

Christopher said the U.N. conference scheduled for Beijing in September takes up very important issues on women and that a U.S. delegation should attend.

“I would try to separate the issues” on the Wu detention and the conference, he said.

Republican leaders, including House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas, have urged President Clinton to cancel U.S. participation in the conference if Wu remains in Chinese custody. Wu’s wife, Ching Lee Wu, has also said it would be wrong to send a U.S. delegation and for First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton to attend while Wu’s husband is in a Chinese jail.

Christopher said no decision had been made on whether Mrs. Clinton would join U.N. Ambassador Madeleine Albright in leading the U.S. delegation.