Time for Washington to Take a Realistic Look at China Policy （一）.docVIP

Time for Washington to Take a Realistic Look at China Policy （一） In the aftermath of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabaos December 8-10visit to Washington，Congress must take stock of the Bush Administrations concessions to China on theTaiwan issue and assess what the United States received in return for compromisingits commitment to Taiwans democracy.A cold-eyed assessment of the U.S.-China relationshipsince the beginning of the Bush Administration will dispel the policy myths thathave colored the U.S.perception of Chinas role in Asia and suggest how best tomanage China in the coming decades.But dispelling the myths requires an understandingof why the early Bush Administrations China policy changed after September 11. 　　Chinas April 2001downing of an American aircraft in international airspaceand the subsequent two-week detention of the crew brought a temporary sense of realismto China policy that was buttressed by the incoming Bush Administrations judgmentthat China was becoming a serious challenge to many American interests in Asia. 　　However ，in a post-September 11world ，the Administrations preoccupationwith the war on terrorism ，Iraq ，and especially North Korea has led policymakersto downplay Chinas resistance and hostility to U.S.initiatives in Asia and elsewhere.Over the past year，U.S.officials have proclaimed themselves absolutely delightedwith the state of our relations with the Peoples Republic of China and the directionwere going ，1and those American China scholars long known for their sunny viewsof the Peoples Republic of China （PRC ）have added glowing commentaries of theirown.212 　　In September，Secretary of State Colin Powell was only a shade less ebullientin his observation that U.S.relations with China are the best they have been sincePresident Nixons first visit.Not that relations were warm and fuzzy，he explained，but rather that neither we nor the Chinese leadership anymore believe that thereis anything inevitable about our relations