China would join America s economic sphere of influence. By extension, theAmerican model of capitalism would be further enhanced, worldwide. Third, a closer strategic and military affinity would naturally follow. Each of these premises is now defunct. While the U.S., has wishfully turned a blind eye to China s human rights violations and its mercantilist economy, China s evolution towards western-style democracy has remained glacial.
Dissenters continue to be harassed.
Labor conditions remain brutal. China allows in some western entrepreneurs and buys some western products, but its trade deficit with the U.S. continues to soar, and it still essentially practices state capitalism, not free markets. Astonishingly enough, even after the Cox revelations, the Clinton administration was still supporting Chinese membership in the World Trade Organization. The premise that China would somehow be a unique American economic ally has proven na ve. Indeed, the reaction throughout China after the accidental U.S. bombing of China s embassy in Belgrade was spontaneous and real.