Denying Beijing the 2000 Olympics was a serious blow. So is keeping China from joining the World Trade Organization on the terms it desires. Next, Hillary Clinton should respond to the pleas of Wu's wife and lead an ostentatious U.S. boycott of the U.N.'s World Conference on Women, scheduled for Beijing in September. Regimes like China's crave the legitimacy such events confer. It should be a lodestar of our policy to grant such public perks only in exchange for signs of toleration and democratization.
Containment aims to prevent war.
But a change in regime to a tolerant, democratic China is the better guarantee of peace. Time to apply the pressure and keep it on. Time Inc. All rights reserved.