"The Pacific is where the future of the world lies."
-- Ronald Reagan, October 1984
"The Soviet Union is also an Asian and Pacific country."
-- Mikhail Gorbachev, July 1986
Three U.S. naval ships last week pulled into the northern Chinese port of Qingdao as a 21-gun salute fired and a 27-piece brass band played Happy Days Are Here Again. The vessels were in China for a six-day stopover, the first such visit by American military ships to the People's Republic since the Communist takeover in 1949. The port call had been delayed by more than a year, following Peking's unexpected...