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In retrospect, perhaps, the State Department should not have been, for China has become increasingly obstreperous in its external relations. A few months ago, it detonated a nuclear device immediately after signing the renewal of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. And in the Spratlys, located in the South China Sea, China has aggressively tried to muscle aside the long-standing territorial claims of other Asian nations.
As for the U.S., China sees a pattern that may not in fact exist. The Clinton foreign policy in general is somewhat ad hoc and driven by politics. The approach to China is no different, but Beijing sees something more systematic and more sinister. "In China, more and more people are wondering, What are the Americans up to?" says Cui Liru, a scholar at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations in Beijing. "Quite a number believe the Americans regard a powerful China as a hindrance to the U.S. in its bid to maintain world dominance, and so are trying hard to keep China weak and divided."
In the past, both countries put aside their differences for the sake of upholding their informal alliance against the Soviet Union. Now, with the Soviet threat gone, the disagreements can fester. Making matters even worse is the struggle under way over who will succeed Deng Xiaoping. "To appear weak before the U.S. puts potential successors in a vulnerable position," says Robert Ross, a visiting professor at the College of Foreign Affairs in Beijing. Testifying before Congress last week, Henry Kissinger, the advance man for President Nixon's opening to China, said, "Sino-American relations are in free fall." For a good indication of how far they will fall, watch what happens to Harry Wu.
--Reported by Hannah Bloch and Dean Fischer/Washington, John Colmey/Hong Kong and Mia Turner/Beijing