At best, relations between China and the United States are starting to resemble relations between France and America in the period since 1940. On the other hand, let us not forget that underlying the rhetoric of French-American disagreements is an acknowledgment that France is our oldest ally, that we probably could not have won the Revolutionary War without its help, and that our fundamental interests have only rarely clashed.
China is a different case.
We have exploited it economically and fought a proxy war with it in Korea. After President Nixon's decision to seek a rapprochement with Beijing in the early 1970s, our policies toward mainland China have been singularly uneven, blowing hot or cold often in reaction to U.S. domestic pressures. It is commonly believed that there is a split between the pro-American forces in the Chinese government, which are generally identified with Prime Minister Zhu Ronghi, and others who are closely aligned with the military and who are willing to risk worsening relations with America if Washington supports Taiwanese calls for independence or steps up its criticisms of China's abuse of human rights. Zhu's visit to the United States earlier this year was a near disaster. He arrived expecting support from President Clinton on China's admittance to the World Trade Organization.