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John Kohut

THE showdown between Beijing and Washington over China's Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status took a dramatic turn yesterday as American Secretary of State Warren Christopher warned that ''time is running out'' for the Chinese to save it.

  ''This issue remains whether there will be overall significant progress'' in human rights, Mr Christopher said last night after two days of talks with Chinese leaders, referring to the condition set by Washington for the renewal of MFN in June.

  ''I emphasised to them that time is running short as we are moving into the two months before I have to make my recommendation'' to US President Bill Clinton.

  In his talk with Mr Christopher yesterday morning, however, President Jiang Zemin gave the Clinton administration a sharp rebuke by hinting that Washington was supporting dissidents and other troublemakers out to subvert the Chinese Government.

  Mr Jiang said bilateral ties would improve only by discussing differences on an equal footing ''instead of interfering in the affairs of other countries'', a reference to US demands for human rights reforms in China.

  ''There are some people in the West who don't really care about the rights, interests and welfare of the vast number of Chinese people,'' Mr Jiang said.

  ''They only show concern for a small number of people who attempt to subvert the Chinese Government and to undermine the stability of China.''   Diplomats in Beijing said last night that both sides had a last chance to bridge the gap this morning when Mr Christopher is scheduled to have a second meeting with Foreign Minister Qian Qichen before leaving China.

  The diplomats said while Beijing might decide to make a couple of token concession on human rights ''at the 11th hour'', the possibility of Mr Christopher leaving empty-handed was high in view of the unexpectedly hardline approach adopted by China's leaders since his arrival last Friday.

   In his 75-minute meeting with the American guest, Mr Jiang insisted that the question of dissidents was a political and legal, rather than a human rights, issue.

  ''It is totally unreasonable for some people to make unwarranted accusations against China,'' he said.

   On a more positive note, however, Mr Jiang indicated the two countries had ''common interests on many important issues'', adding ''the two sides should increase trust, reduce troubles, expand co-operation and avoid confrontation''.

  ''Practice shows that the Sino-US relations can move forward so long as both sides view things from a worldwide perspective, proceed from the fundamental interests of the two peoples, respect each other, transcend their differences in ideology and expandco-operation,'' the President said.

     Mr Christopher conveyed Mr Clinton's regards to Mr Jiang, saying that the American leader was determined to build ''broader and more constructive relations'' between the countries.

  ''The two sides should seize the opportunity and take positive actions to push forward the bilateral ties,'' Xinhua (the New China News Agency) quoted Mr Christopher as saying.

  According to American diplomats, however, Mr Christopher told Mr Jiang that MFN was in peril because of Beijing's failure to even give an indication of sincerity in improving human rights in the future.

  The Secretary of State also conveyed Mr Clinton's disquiet over the recent spate of detentions of at least 17 dissidents.

  Analysts said, however, that Beijing was confident that the ''Chinese lobby'' among the American business community would put pressure on Washington to renew MFN in any case.

  Before meeting Mr Jiang, Mr Christopher was told by leaders of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) that both US business and the human rights cause stood to crumble if Washington cancelled MFN.

  AmCham president Phil Carmichael told Mr Christopher that US companies were already at a disadvantage in China because foreign competitors could rely on soft loans and the backing of their national leaders on specific projects.

  ''With no MFN, the situation will get worse,'' Mr Carmichael said at an AmCham breakfast meeting.

  ''If you look at the trend line . . . tremendous progress [on human rights] has been made. People can work where they want to work now, they can move from city to city,'' Mr Carmichael said. ''The trend line is going in the right direction, and what's driving it is economics.''   William Warwick, chairman of AT&T China, noted that China was already the largest market in the world for many telecommunications products, with plans to expand its telephone network capacity by 12 million to 15 million lines per year well into the next century.

  Mr Warwick called the linkage of trade and human rights ''ill-considered'' in view of American business interests.

  Other businessmen pointed out from 167,000 to 200,000 American jobs might be lost if Beijing were to use retaliatory measures upon the cancellation of MFN.

  Mr Christopher told AmCham, however, that ''our foreign policy, like our country, is about more than economics''.

  ''To gain and retain the support of the American people, our foreign policy must be based on the core values in which Americans believe,'' he said. Mr Christopher called Mr Clinton's approach to China ''reasonable''.

 ''What we seek in China should not be regarded as extraordinary. We are not asking for a radical transformation of the Chinese system. We do ask that China follows the basic standards of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,'' he said.



Talks fail to solve dispute on MFN