LOS ANGELES -- The foreign-policy portfolio of the Bush administration is obviously a work in progress, but its increasing sourness toward China is beginning to alarm many Americans. Last week's Defense Department decision to back away from meetings and contacts between the Chinese and American militaries came across as provocative. And the tit-for-tat cancellation of future U.S. ships' calls to Hong Kong, after Beijing itself spiked the latest one, seemed only to add to the momentum of a relationship headed downhill already. Where will this deterioration stop, and how vicious will the chilly and risky volleying get?
The administration hawks who distrust the Chinese cannot control everything, of course. They won't be able to reverse last year's landmark congressional approval of permanent normal trading relations status for China. They could appear disconnected to reality if they continue to resist the tide of international public sentiment on the issue of the 2008 Olympics for China. And are the Bush people really thinking of boycotting this fall's annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shanghai? This important event helps raise consensus on issues on both sides of the Pacific.
The current Bush "chiller-in-chief" is U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who sometimes comes across as a Cold War nostalgia buff. The Pentagon cited security concerns in justifying the aforementioned military-contact pullback, a move Rumsfeld had been itching to effect for months. In truth, America learns at least as much from these exchanges as China does from us.