As expected, United States President Bill Clinton finally backed down on his pressure on China through the magical Most Favoured Nation diplomacy. China appears to be the victor of this international game. It seems that the Chinese government intended to deliberately embarrass President Clinton by arresting a number of alleged labour activists just prior to the deadline of the MFN renewal.
President Clinton not only has continued to grant MFN status to China but also declared that its renewal will now be completely separated from China’s human rights performance. In fact, there is little to disappoint over the US action. Right from the beginning there should be no illusion that the US intervention will ever improve labour conditions in China, nor anywhere in Asia. This latest comedic episode that the US has performed exposed a naked truth--it is still the big capitalists who are in command in the US. Their interest has always been above their loudly proclaimed ethics.
Elected with a domestic agenda, President Clinton ended up being given an international agenda. After his blunder in the US, he is again trying his luck in the Korean peninsula. It appears that President Clinton and the Pentagon are trying to manufacture a new crisis in Asia. Perhaps another war in Asia will help the US economic revival. The US manoeuver in Korea will definitely escalate tension between the north and south Korean leaders. This will in turn slow down the process of reunification between the divided nation.
Reunification, which is a vision for labour and people’s movement in Korea, has been seen as a threat to the US interest in Asia. Cooperation between the two Koreas may also aid to the growing economic strength of South Korea, which is increasingly being seen as a threat to Washington’s economic dominance in the region. So far the issue has attracted little attention from labour movements in other Asian countries, but if the crisis deepened, there should be an effort forged among the Asian labour movement for solidarity action against war and imperialism.
Contents
COVER STORY: MEDAN DEMONSTRATIONS
COUNTRY FEATURES
More headaches ahead 10
Special report on foreign-invested firms 11
REGULAR SECTIONS