After all, to counter the US defensive missile build up, Beijing would predictably increase its offensive missile arsenal. Alternatively, it could unveil a currency devaluation that would roil the region's economic woes. Some or all of these options are available to Beijing at the push of a button. To be sure, any such development, if it happens, will be presented by Mr Bush's spin doctors as Chinese provocation. Japan, the world's second-largest economy, is America's most important and primary partner in Asia, but it might well wish to decline the honour of a US tilt if the result will be the upsetting of the delicate balance across Asia.
Some gifts are far more trouble than they are worth.
The writer, a UCLA professor, is a columnist for The Straits Times, The South China Morning Post and the Honolulu Advertiser. He contributed this article to The Straits Times.