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Visit to China Marks Historic Anniversary
Wednesday, February 20, 2002
By Michael Dorgan
Knight Ridder Tribune

"The tones, attitudes and atmosphere all have improved, and the contacts have improved," Chu Shulong, director of the Institute of Strategic Studies at Beijing's Tsinghua University, said. "But nothing has improved in substantial matters."

BEIJING
When President Bush arrives in China on Thursday it will be 30 years to the day since President Richard Nixon's historic trip opened the way to diplomatic relations between two countries that had been bitter Cold War rivals.

Neither government is predicting a huge shift in U.S.-China relations this time. But the anniversary of Nixon's 1972 trip is a reminder of how far the often-rocky relationship between the two countries has come, despite fundamental differences over human rights, weapons proliferation, Taiwan and missile defense.

For those with shorter memories, Bush's two-day visit, part of a three-nation swing through Asia that first took him to Japan and South Korea, will highlight how much the U.S.-China relationship has improved since last spring - and especially since the Sept. 11 attacks.

After a chilly period in the early days of the Bush presidency, when a U.S. spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet collided off China's coast, the U.S.-China relationship began to warm when U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell visited Beijing in July and assured China that the United States wanted to be its friend, not its foe.

But it was the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States that led the two countries to downplay their differences and seek common ground, at least for the near future, according to both Chinese and American experts.
(More: The Tallahassee Democrat News Source)
2002 © Knight Ridder Tribune.

Dan