that many of the goods imported to the U.S. from China are made by political prisoners under slave-labor conditions. They state that MFN status should not be renewed and that the U.S. should in fact punish China for its internal policies by restricting American trade within that country as well. President Bush claimed that the policy was based on what he called "constructive engagement," meaning that continuing a dialogue with the Chinese was the best way to encourage reform over time. Supporters of MFN also point out that cutting trade with China would hurt the government less than it would hurt the private exporters in China who are crusading in the move within China away from communism and toward capitalism (Campbell, 1992, 18-19).
The dual forces creating more and more opposition to continuing MFN for China can be seen in memories of Tiananmen Square and in the decrease in communism elsewhere in the world. The fall of Communism in most of the world has had little effect on the People's Republic of China, a nation which resisted any move toward democracy or any significant change with tanks in Tiananmen Square two years ago. This has created a dilemma for U.S. policymakers. On the one hand, President Bush accords China most-favored-nations trade status, while on the other, Congress would like to find ways to link any such move to an improvement in human rights. One abuse of human rights that has come to light that reflects directly on trade issues is the fact that China is using prisoners as forced labor to produce goods and services bolstering the Chinese economy. Mosher (1991) explains: "Whether operating factories, mines, or farms, each facility is not only required to be self-supporting, but is expected to turn a profit for the state" (p. 49). Some $100 million worth of these goods were exported to the United States in 1990, with goods such as textiles, wines, teas, and machinery. There are efforts in Congress to ba...