After all, the longer Navy personnel were detained, the greater the likelihood that Congress and the American public would lash out at China. Beijing has only itself to blame for some of this. China's organized support in the U.S. has dwindled as it angers constituencies at both ends of the American political spectrum. The crackdown on Falungong practitioners has inflamed the U.S. religious right. American trade unions have long charged that China uses prison labor to produce goods for export.
American hawks warn of a modernizing Chinese military and arms sales to pariah countries like Iraq.
Environmentalists would like China to burn less coal and do a better job of protecting endangered animals. The list goes on. And China's U.S. friends limited increasingly to the business community would have faced a loyalty test if they had been forced to defend Beijing's actions to the American people. Companies make keen calculations about their best interests. When U.S. retailer Kmart was inundated with e-mail messages in recent days complaining that it carries too many goods made in China, company officials responded by warning Chinese diplomats that they would seek new suppliers if the Navy crew wasn't released.