ABSTRACT
Human-rights issues, particularly in the period since the June 1989 bloodshed in Tiananmen Square, have been more prominent in America's relations with China. During the 1970s, rather than paying attention to human-rights abuses in China, US administrations were primarily interested in China's economic-reform efforts and credit was given for its repudiation of past instances of large-scale abuse during the Maoist era. The US Congress mandated certain new requirements in the human-rights area during Clinton's last years in office. A US-China Relations Act of 2000 established a Congressional-Executive Commission to 'monitor China's compliance with international human rights standards, encourage the development of the rule of law, establish and maintain a list of victims of human rights abuses, and promote bilateral cooperation'.
