A glance at the current state of U.S. relations with China, East Asia's 1.3 billion-population leviathan, shows a rapidly evolving relationship based on trade and investment. There are still sour notes -- notably Taiwan and China's approach to human rights -- but, in general, China is changing rapidly and the United States' approach to it is evolving accordingly.
The bottom line for the United States with regard to China is illustrated by the fact that foreign investment in China's economy grew to $52.7 billion in 2002, a 12.5 percent increase. American companies wouldn't miss out on that trade and investment opportunity for the world, particularly as the U.S. economy dawdles.
Recent divers into the Chinese pond include Ford Motor Co., which opened its first plant in China this month. China is the world's fastest-growing auto market. Ford also will open 26 dealerships in 18 cities. General Motors already has 10 percent of the Chinese market. Citigroup this month bought 5 percent of a Shanghai bank for $72.4 million.
A critical barrier to the expansion of U.S. trade and investment in China was eliminated in 2001 with the admission of China to the World Trade Organization. Its record of moving into compliance with the requirements of membership in that organization is sluggish, but that can be put down in part to both the unwieldiness of the Chinese economy and the distance the Communist state has to come to achieve free economy correctness. China also is about to become the world's second-largest importer of oil, which will require closer coordination between it and the United States, as well as with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other oil producers.
All is not roses, of course. The basic point of incompatibility between the United States and China is that China considers itself to be the dominant power in Asia, which can put it into conflict with the United States, not shy about asserting its own interests in that area.
A particular point of difference is the continuing Chinese desire to regain control of Taiwan, following its absorption of Hong Kong in 1997 and Macao in 1999. The United States still remains faithful to the concept of the separate status of the island, a remnant of old loyalties to Chiang Kai-shek and the other Chinese who fled the mainland in 1949, the remains of Cold War antagonism and bitter memories of Chinese support of North Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War.
China itself is quietly working on its relationship with the Taiwanese. The head of the China affairs department of Taiwan's ruling party, the Democratic Progressive Party, went to Beijing this month for five days of talks on trade. Commercial flights are being instituted between Taipei and Shanghai by way of Hong Kong. There is reason to hope that the two will become so intertwined commercially and financially that war involving them will become out of the question.
Another area of sensitivity is China's human rights record. The country is not only thin-skinned about any internal political opposition to the ruling Communists, it is also heavy-handed in its approach to the religious dissident group, the Falun Gong. Chinese rule of Tibet also remains as a sore point.
The most encouraging development in China in the last year was the relatively smooth transition in leadership from Jiang Zemin to Hu Jintao. The transfer of power has still not been completed, but this succession has not been characterized by any of the sharp political turns that have occurred in the past.
There is reason to hope that the new maturity that the Chinese leadership has shown, both in its emphasis on economic affairs and in the orderly transfer of power, also will manifest itself in continued attachment to working out the Taiwan issue peacefully, and to becoming more relaxed about political and religious dissidence. Encouraging that maturity should be the hallmark of American policy.
E-mail this story 
