Americans will enjoy more Chinese-made apparel and appliances at reasonable prices if PNTR passes. Still, China's private citizens will remain the greatest beneficiaries of tighter Sino-American ties. Western investment has improved Chinese living standards enormously in just two decades. Even dissidents support faster economic growth as the most powerful prescription to promote Chinese liberty. The West should not try to isolate the Communist regime, says Wang Dan, a leader of the 1989 student protests in Tiananmen Square.
Economic change does influence political change.
China's economic development will be good for the West, as well as for the Chinese people. Nonetheless, the Clinton Administration rarely makes China pay even a high rhetorical price for its misconduct. While he repeatedly met with Mikhail Gorbachev, President Reagan minced no words in dubbing the Soviet Union the Evil Empire. Through Radio Free Europe, Reagan's message echoed from Vilnius to Vladivostok. He met publicly with the Afghan freedom fighters who battled the Red Army.