POTENTIAL CONFLICT ENSUES AS FLC PONDERS OVER HOW TO HANDLE A VISUAL CLB CLRNC FROM ATC.

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WE WERE LEVEL AT 10000 FT DIRECT MHT VOR WITH INBOUND BOS DC-10 TFC 11 O'CLOCK POS OPPOSITE DIRECTION MOVING L TO R. CTLR ASKED IF WE HAD DC-10 IN SIGHT AND WE REPLIED AFFIRMATIVE. HE THEN GAVE US A CLRNC TO MAINTAIN VISUAL ON TFC AND CLB TO 14000 FT. THE PNF ACKNOWLEDGED. TO ME; THIS HAS ALWAYS MEANT TO CLB TO HIGHER ALT AFTER TFC PASSES CLR; SO I WATCHED AS THE TFC MOVED L TO R TOWARD US. TFC WAS NOTED ON TCASII AT (PLUS 10) FT. CTLR THEN CLRED HIM TO DSND R IN FRONT OF US; AS WE MAINTAINED 10000 FT (WITH OUR 14000 FT CLRNC). WE COMPLIED WITH A DSND RA FROM OUR TCASII AND DSNDED TO 9600 FT; AT WHICH TIME WE WERE CLR OF CONFLICT AND WE THEN CLBED UP TO 14000 FT WITH THE DC-10 CLR TO THE R AND BEHIND US. I'VE NEVER HAD AN ATC CLRNC WHERE I WAS EXPECTED TO CLB VISUALLY ON OPPOSITE TFC THAT WAS 1000 FT ABOVE ME. THIS CLRNC TYPICALLY HAS ALWAYS BEEN USED TO EXPEDITE A CLB AFTER ABOVE TFC PASSES. UNFORTUNATELY; THERE WAS NOT ENOUGH TIME TO QUESTION THE CLRNC DUE TO THE RA ON TCASII. NEXT TIME; I'LL REFUSE THE CLRNC.