In the 1990s, continued "most favoured nation" status for the People's Republic of China by the United States created controversy because of its sales of sensitive military technology and China's serious and continuous persecution of human rights. China's MFN status was made permanent on December 27, 2001. All of the former Soviet states, including Russia, were granted MFN status in 1996. On a bilateral level, however, the United States could not grant MFN status to some members of the former Soviet Union, including the Russian Federation, because of the Jackson-Vanik amendment. This presented an obstacle to those countries' accession to the WTO. At the urging of Vice President Joe Biden, the Jackson-Vanik amendment was repealed with Magnitsky Act (which attempts to punish human rights violations without hampering trade) on December 14, 2012.