Bill Clinton

Clinton was born in 1946 and served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Early in his presidency he linked the annual renewal of China's Most Favored Nation trading status to human rights conditions, issuing an executive order in May 1993 that made 1994 renewal contingent on progress in areas including emigration, prison labor exports, treatment of prisoners, Tibet, and access for foreign broadcasts. After concluding that China had not made the progress he had required, Clinton announced on 26 May 1994 that he was 'delinking' MFN status from human rights, opting instead to pursue engagement through continued economic and cultural exchange.

In June 1995, Taiwan's leader Lee Teng-hui visited his alma mater Cornell University and delivered a speech, which Beijing regarded as a breach of the 'one China' principle. From late 1995 through the run-up to Taiwan's March 1996 leadership election, mainland China conducted a series of missile tests in the Taiwan Strait, in what became known as the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis, bringing cross-strait tensions to their lowest point since the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. In March 1996 the Clinton administration deployed two aircraft carrier battle groups, the USS Independence and USS Nimitz, to waters near Taiwan — the largest U.S. military deployment to the region since the Vietnam War.

In June 1998, Clinton made a state visit to China, the first sitting U.S. president to do so since the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. On 26 June in Beijing he held a joint, nationally televised press conference with President Jiang Zemin at which the two exchanged views on human rights and other issues. On 30 June in Shanghai, Clinton became the first U.S. president to publicly affirm the 'three noes' policy on Taiwan: no support for Taiwan independence, no support for 'one China, one Taiwan' or 'two Chinas,' and no support for Taiwan's membership in international organizations requiring statehood.

Following the NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in May 1999, Clinton expressed regret publicly the following day and wrote to Chinese President Jiang Zemin to apologise, acknowledging the bombing as a serious error and committing to investigate its cause and provide compensation to the families of those killed and to the Chinese government.

Clinton's administration also led the bilateral negotiations for China's accession to the World Trade Organisation, signing the bilateral agreement with China in November 1999. In May 2000 the U.S. House and Senate passed legislation granting China Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status, and on 10 October 2000 Clinton signed the U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000 into law, ending the annual congressional review of China's trade status and clearing the principal U.S. legislative hurdle to China's WTO accession the following year.