HONOLULU -- After a year and a half of gradual improvement, relations between the United States and China appear to be taking a turn for the worse. Two recent U.S. reports sharply criticize U.S. policy toward China and have earned equally sharp criticism from Beijing in return. While we shouldn't overestimate the significance of the two reports, they do make plain the perception gaps that plague the Sino-U.S. relationship. Unless the two countries address that issue directly, there will be no significant and lasting improvement in bilateral ties.

The two recent salvos are the Pentagon's annual report to Congress on "The Military Power of the People's Republic of China" and the bipartisan Report to Congress of the U.S.-China Security Review Commission, both of which were released in mid-July. The Pentagon report argues that China is acting as if the U.S. is an adversary and is preparing credible options that would allow it to retake Taiwan by force and to nullify the U.S. military advantage. It emphasizes China's use of strategic deception and casts most Chinese overtures to the U.S. as attempts to lull the U.S. into a false sense of security.

The CSRC report takes the same skeptical tone toward Chinese intentions and echoes many of the same points in a more wide-ranging examination of the bilateral relationship. The CSRC argues that "there are important areas in which Chinese policy runs directly counter to U.S. national security interests." It charges that the U.S. is helping China modernize its economy and its military and concludes "that far more prudence must be displayed and far better understanding developed on the part of Congress on the full extent of [the Sino-U.S.] relationship and its impact on U.S. interests."