War of Wills - U.S. and China

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cont'd: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12335721/site/newsweek/

War of Wills
Behind the summit smiles, China may pose the most serious challenge to America and its global vision.

By Melinda Liu
Newsweek International

April 24, 2006 issue - This week's long-awaited summit between Hu Jintao and George W. Bush in Washington has sent diplomatic sherpas in both countries into overdrive. One last-minute development was a visit to Beijing last week by Washington's assistant secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Thomas A. Shannon Jr. His was the first-ever China trip by the State Department's point man on Latin America. And his message to Beijing was blunt: tread carefully in America's backyard, where China has lately been cultivating economic and military ties. "We want to ensure that China respects the larger consensus forged : that democracy is the system that the region wants to have and supports," said spokeswoman Jan Edmonson. Congressman Dan Burton, the Republican chairman of a congressional subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, framed U.S. concerns about Beijing's intentions even more bluntly: "It's extremely important that we don't let a potential enemy of the United States become a dominant force in this part of the world."


China and the United States have had a complex but cordial relationship since George W. Bush was elected in 2000. And when Hu and Bush meet, the cordial side will be on grand display—handshakes, a 21-gun salute and lofty rhetoric about "harmony and cooperation" between the two countries. Hu will arrive in D.C. humming the mantra of China's "peaceful development." Bush will nod his approval and gently press his counterpart about trade policy.

But behind the smiles, say experts, it's becoming increasingly difficult for China and the United States to mask profound differences in their approaches to the world. While Bush has spent the past five years fighting global terrorism, promoting the idea of democracy and threatening to topple oppressive despots, the unelected Hu has set a more pragmatic—some might say amoral—course for China's foreign policy. In places where Beijing has sought to lock up natural resources, in particular oil, that's meant China has adopted the role of kind uncle for many of the same rogue regimes that Bush loathes.