Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Her unusually sharp criticism was a clear indication of the administration's ambivalence and frustration with China, even as officials prepare for a state visit next month by the president of China, Hu Jintao, his first visit since taking office in 2003. In her speeches and news conferences, Ms. Rice usually maintains a positive tone about China. She often says relations with the government in Beijing "are at their best ever."

China does not seem a country that responds to warnings or unusually sharp criticism, this type of approach is better left to nations that by their nature require a firm hand where the ‘honor’ thing is not quite so paramount.

"The overwhelming sense I got was that they do not want a conflict with the United States," Mr. Zoellick said. But he said that he, too, "tried to get them to see how their actions are perceived by the other side," particularly "if they were not transparent, they would create uncertainties, and uncertainties lead people to hedge."

The United States is hedging to a degree, he acknowledged, by enhancing its relations with some of China's neighbors, including Australia, India and Japan.

This degree, which is blamed on China’s refusing to be as transparent as desired, includes pointing some heavy weapons at the Middle Kingdom. This ‘degree’ may even include nuclear weapons especially in the case of India at present; Japan is not out of the question for nukes later. So this is quite a ‘degree’ into which we have been ‘forced’.

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Thanks,

-Am