That's because it wasn't Clinton, it was Bush.
The EO was signed in 1989 following the Stockton School Massacre committed by some loner psycho who hated immigrants/foreigners. The irony that the shooter/murderer used an imported firearm, tin foil hats on, go! He gunned down children in a playground at a school, similar to Sandy Hook. Destitute young men lash out at the thing our society holds most sacred, it's innocent children, and it happens all over the world. China has many high profile incidents that "inspire" copycat crimes. This was not the first time in US history though, in fact, the worst school massacre was committed in 1927 by a school treasurer who placed timed bombs beneath the school house in Bath MI. That POS killed 38 children and 6 adults. I'm getting sideline, back on point, sincere apologies.... yet school massacres initiate many, if not all, bans throughout the world. That, or the bans are enacted by gov regime to simply control the populace.
The Stockton School Massacre also ushered in the passage of the notorious Roberti-Roos AW ban in CA in 1989, passed by a GOP governor (George Deukmejian) who basically stabbed his constituents in the back by folding to the emotionally based and unsound DNC agenda. There is no sunset clause, no expiration date and we are left alone and deserted in CA to carry on our 2A Right under the weight of this asinine legislation. So we enjoy it when our fellow Americans scoff at us and ignore the blatant tyranny that has been levied upon us.
Furthermore, Bush was not going to sign the proposed Federal AWB, supported by many in '89, and passed it on to dear leader Clinton, who eventually signed the 1994 AW ban that expired in '04. Many of the provisions of the Federal '94 ban were woefully adopted from Roberti-Roos. Bush's ban also went beyond just Chinese imports, it also banned Israeli Uzis, bc of it's link to the drug trade. They got a lot done bc of this terrible high profile event, school massacre, but all in the name of public safety, right, right? Yeaaahhh.