Last week, after four years of repeated Chinese sales of chemical-weapons components to Iran, the White House finally acted. It imposed sanctions on five Chinese citizens and three minor Chinese companies for the next 12 months -- depriving them of about $ 2 million in business with the United States. The Clinton administration took no action against broader Chinese industry groups or the Beijing government and continued to warn Congress against revoking China's most-favored-nation status. "We have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time," a senior State Department official explained. "Cutting off MFN would be counterproductive."
Needless to say, the Clinton administration ignored Chinese chemical- weapons proliferation until the Chemical Weapons Convention (which China signed) could be squeaked by the Senate. And with this action, the administration avoided sanctioning any large state entity (because "we have no evidence that the Chinese government was involved").
The point of this latest announcement was to make the White House look tough on Chinese proliferation without doing any damage to the Clinton administration's favorite trading partner. But wait until the MFN debate is over. Then the administranon plans to approve billions of dollars of Westinghouse and Bechtel nuclear-reactor sales to China. How will they justify this? They're planning to say that the sale will keep China from selling other, more dangerous weapons components to Iran. After all, Beijing must be rewarded. And if not us, who? If not soon, when?