The October 1997 United States visit and summit between Chinese President Jiang Zemin and US President William J. Clinton yielded concentrated, daily, and prominent debate on the status of US-China relations Despite ongoing investigation into Democratic National Committee soft money practices, and the criticism that "Chinese campaign money may be Influencing US policy, "1 the President stands firmly by his 29 May 1997 decision to continue China's Most Favored Nation (MFN) Status waiver and a more moderated approach to US-China relations US-China policy critics, such as Bill Bauer, president of the Washington DC based Family Research Council, mounted a prominent campaign during the week of the summit. Citing continued human rights violations, religious persecution, trade inequities, and intellectual property rights differences as overwhelming justification for MFN revocation, critics, including Congress, called for a tougher stand. The opposition repeatedly raised the issue of US policy towards China, and the US President, as being subservient to big business and political monetary gain rather than national interest or principle. It is this issue that merits further investigation.

A comprehensive examination of America's relationship with China. Both addressing and looking beyond the annual debate on most-favored-nation trading status (MFN), the authors examine the complex economic, strategic, and philosophical issues confronting US policymakers in this critical relationship. The volume also explores the views of the Chinese people themselves, the changing human rights policies of the Chinese government, the political implications of the Jackson-Vanik amendment, and the internal deliberations within the Clinton administration on China policy. Paper edition (unseen), $12.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

In 1992, presidential hopeful William Jefferson Clinton, in what Warren Christopher called the toughest foreign policy rhetoric of the campaign, criticized then President Bush for failing to tie China's Most Favored Nation (MFN) status to its human rights record. In 1994, despite its poor progress in human rights issues, President Clinton announced his intention to support continuation of China's MFN status. This paper examines this sea change in the Clinton presidency. It studies why this potential superpower rival was awarded MFN status despite legitimate concerns and President Clinton's best intentions to the contrary. It also critiques the Governmental Politics model with respect to this decision and finally, proposes a new decision process model to evaluate economic, political and contextual influences on government decisions.

During the 1992 campaign, Bill Clinton repeatedly sought to distance himself from the liberal orthodoxy that had come to define the Democratic Party's national image. Labeling himself a "New Democrat," Clinton supported the death penalty, criticized racially incendiary remarks by black political activist Sister Souljah and promised to "end welfare as we know it." These pronouncements enabled Clinton to position himself as a moderate. In 1992, independent voters who had supported Republicans in previous elections returned to support the Democratic presidential candidate. As President, Clinton pledged to pursue "third way" policies that would synthesize the best of liberal and conservative ideas for the benefit of the nation. This volume, assessing the domestic policies of the Clinton administration, addresses two broad though closely related questions. First, was the New Democrat approach substantively significant or merely rhetorical? Second, did the policies themselves succeed in furthering the national interest? This collection features papers and commentaries initially presented at the 2005 Hofstra University Conference, "William Jefferson Clinton: The New Democrat' from Hope," in which dozens of top scholars, journalists and Clinton Administration officials evaluated the Clinton Administration's legacy. In this volume, political scientist Stephen K. Medvic and former White House senior staffer Elaine C. Kamarck examine the meaning of Clinton's New Democrat philosophy. Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin and economist Dean Baker offer commentary on economic policy. Clinton Trade Representative Mickey Kantor and Pepperdine University business law professor Larry Bumgardner offer evaluations of the administration's trade policies. Hofstra University information technology professor Laura Lally discusses the Clinton Administration's technology policy, and political scientist Robert J. Spitzer examines gun control policy.