PACT WITH CHINA CARRIES MANY IMPLICATIONS STATE'S TECHNOLOGY AGREEMENT WITH JIANGSU PROVINCE COULD AFFECT HUMAN RIGHTS DEAL ADDS PRESSURE ON THE U.S. TO CONTINUE CHINA'S MOST FAVORED NATION STATUS.(BUSINESS)

Byline: ALAN D. ABBEY Business writer

ALBANY Business prospects, not human rights or politics, was chief on the agenda last week when Gov. Mario M. Cuomo signed a technology agreement that will lead to exchanges and visits with officials of a major Chinese province.

But the agreement, coming as it did just weeks before President Clinton is expected to rule on whether to renew preferential trade status for China, carries political and human rights implications nonetheless, a spokesman for a major human rights group said.

The pact's own history provided a clue to the matter's human rights dimension. The technology and financial agreements reached last week grew out of initial agreements for cooperation signed in 1989, just before Chinese officials cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Further cooperation cooled after the Chinese government killed Tiananmen demonstrators and numerous democracy activists went into hiding or exile.

Richard Dicker, of Asia Watch in New York City, said that even though the deal signed last week was between a province and a state, it adds to the pressure on the U.S. to continue China's most favored …