Now You See ‘Em, Now You Don’t: Bush’s Ineffectual Sanctions Against China

On the first anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, the Center for Security Policy questioned the accuracy of President Bush’s assertion that his Administration is imposing genuine costs on the Li Peng regime for its repressive behavior against the Chinese people.

In an analysis released today, entitled ‘Where Have All the Sanctions Gone?’: Additional Arguments For Blocking MFN to China, the Center demonstrates that, the Bush Administration’s assertions to the contrary notwithstanding, there are essentially no consequential sanctions in place today against the PRC. As a result, there is no meaningful political counterweight in place that signals the United States’ displeasure with the continuing brutal repression in China or that offsets the pro-regime overtones of the president’s recent decision to renew China’s most favored nation (MFN) status.

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., the Center’s director, noted, "The Bush Administration has engaged in one disappearing act after another in its effort to insulate U.S.-Chinese relations from the American peoples’ outrage over Tiananmen Square. Careful analysis reveals that the same mindset that brought us the National Security Advisor’s secret trips to Beijing — including the infamous toasts to the perpetrators of the brutal anti-democracy crackdown — is now at work in describing as real sanctions that are essentially ineffectual."

‘Where Have All the Sanctions Gone?’ considers each of the measures taken roughly a year ago by the Bush Administration, ostensibly to punish the government of the PRC for its repression. These were to involve suspension of military sales, high-level contacts and World Bank loans. In each case, whatever punitive impact such actions might have had has been dissipated by subsequent actions, despite President Bush’s statement on 24 May that "these sanctions remain basically unchanged today."

Copies of ‘Where Have All the Sanctions Gone?’ may be obtained by contacting the Center.