Other deals announced in April included a pact between insurer American International Group and Minsheng Bank. Courier Federal Express said it was aiming to double to 300 the number of Chinese cities it serves over the next five years. All that was a testament to the allure of China as the U.S. enters a slowdown. For Beijing, keeping those breathless hopes alive is key to its political stability. While it has had to react with nationalist fervour against the spy plane and Taiwan affairs, businessmen say they have had no inkling that it is being allowed to affect business ties.
China is very good at departmentalizing.
Still, the mere existence of political tensions can affect business even when Beijing tries to keep the two things separate. That is especially the case if the conflicts over the spy plane and Taiwan drag on into several months, as the Belgrade bombing did. A pending congressional resolution opposing China's bid to host the 2008 Olympics could irritate Beijing, as would a U.S. decision to grant Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian visas for two brief stops in the U.S. in late May and early June on his trip to Latin America. The Bush administration is not expected to discourage members of Congress from meeting Chen this time, as the Clinton administration did last year. One example of this is U.S. portfolio investment in China, which is especially sensitive to perceptions of popular anti-U.S. sentiment and the undemocratic nature of the Beijing regime.