A Sino-U.S. re-engagement

CHINA'S NEW DETERMINATION to shape a futurist international order is becoming increasingly evident on two inter-related fronts. For several months now, China has made no secret of its policy of gravitating towards Russia to discover some common strategic space in the global arena. In a sense, this seems to have fetched Beijing some significant dividends already. Look at the ``constructive'' warmth in Washington's re-engagement with Beijing at this stage. Gen. Colin Powell, the U.S. Secretary of State, seems to have blazed a new trail in this connection during his latest visit to Beijing. His diplomatic style might largely account for the relative low level of rancour during this U.S.- China encounter - the first major bilateral political dialogue since the showdown last April between the two over a mid-air collision involving an American spy plane and a Chinese fighter aircraft. Unconcealed beyond Gen. Powell's politeness, though, is the obvious American gameplan of trying to let China see the potential benefits of a reasonably cooperative relationship with the United States. From the standpoint of the present Bush administration in Washington, the Chinese have already made much common cause with the Russians. The Sino-Russian concert is the strongest in fine-tuning a disapproval of the current U.S.' plans for a missile defence system, which might still leave the other major powers feeling vulnerable despite the relevant American assurances. It is this aspect of the trilateral equations among the U.S. and China as also Russia that should explain the new echoes in the Washington-Beijing dialogue.

The American ideas for a missile defence network still seem to constitute a theme song of the future. However, Gen. Powell's latest parleys in Beijing are significant for the questions he raised in respect of China's adherence to its own pledge to refrain from promoting the nuclear and missile development programmes of other countries. China made a sweeping commitment of this order in November last year in the context of the pressure exerted by the previous Clinton administration in this sensitive sphere of global concern. A matter of direct concern to India is the extent of China's restraint in fostering Pakistan's nuclear and missile programmes. Gen. Powell has now made clear America's intentions of monitoring China's behaviour in the related realms of nuclear non-proliferation and restraint in transferring missile-related knowhow. Beijing has proved itself adept at raising the level of Washington's confidence in their bilateral dialogue. The related evidence can be found in the manner in which Beijing has been responding to Washington's concerns over the human rights of some of the U.S.-favoured persons who were convicted in China for alleged spying.

To manage the current international complexities with considerable freedom of action, the U.S. seems to have decided, at least for the present moment, to banish the images of a Second Cold War involving either China or even a post-Soviet Russia. Not surprisingly, therefore, Gen. Powell is now clearly seeking to redefine the future of the Sino-American re-engagement in terms other than a strategic ``competition''. The U.S. Secretary of Defence, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld, widely seen to be more hawkish than Gen. Powell in viewing China, is also saying that he has ``no Rumsfeldian code'' to describe the current upturn in bilateral ties. The U.S. is signalling, too, that the Chinese will be allowed a certain comfort level to find their feet on the international stage even as they enter the World Trade Organisation sooner than later. Yet, in a totally conventional style of keeping as many options open as possible, Washington has indicated its resolve to sustain its pressure on China in regard to the U.S.-reliant Taiwan. It is no less a sign of Beijing's dilemmas, as it prepares to organise the 2008 Olympics, that the U.S. will continue to watch China over human rights issues.

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