Beijing lacks a clear sense of the Bush Administration's China policy and is not happy about what it has seen thus far. China sees the Bush Administration giving priority to alliance preservation in East Asia with South Korea and Japan. China interprets U.S. actions as hegemonic behavior intended to prevent it from emerging as a strategic competitor. While it is necessary to build U.S. policy on regional alliances, it is also important to recognize that East Asia's security is equally dependent on cooperative U.S.-China relations. The calendar will not wait for the kinks of this transition period to work themselves out.
News items continue to fill the vacuum.
China announced a defense budget increase of nearly 18 percent. Chinese foreign minister Tang Jiaxuan has warned that there are serious consequences associated with U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. Satellite images show a new Chinese missile base capable of targeting Taiwan. Washington will want to rush to judgment about China, but U.S. policy cannot be based solely on reactions to Chinese behavior. China is playing a dangerous two-level game of superficial cooperation and subterranean competition with respect to the United States and the broader international community.