Getting To Know One Another
When Richard Nixon flew into Beijing on the morning of February 21, 1972, Mao Zedong was so thrilled, he wanted the U.S. President to come straight from the airport to meet him. Mao had been seriously ill for weeks: resuscitation equipment was hidden behind potted plants in his residence in case he collapsed during the meeting. The Chairman was fitted with a new Mao suit to conceal edematous bloating. That morning he had his first haircut in five months.
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Nixon was allowed to go from the airport to a guest bungalow, and to lunch with Premier Zhou Enlai. But then he was whisked to meet Mao, and the history books describe a meeting of civilizations that was as weird and awkward as it was historic. Mao and Zhou wanted to discuss the recent coup attempt by Lin Biao, Mao's chosen successor; Nixon didn't seem to understand them. He and Henry Kissinger flattered the Chairman. When Kissinger referred to Mao as a "professional philosopher," Mao laughed and asked, "He is a doctor of philosophy?" Nixon's reply: "He is a doctor of brains."
Chinese President Hu Jintao's meeting with George W. Bush this week in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations' 60th anniversary celebration, continues the series of encounters between top American and Chinese leaders that started in 1972. With each meeting, the drama and historical import has diminished. That's a positive thing, a sign of how profoundly the U.S.-China relationship has deepened in three decades. When Deng Xiaoping met Jimmy Carter in the White House in 1979—memorable quote: "Has your Congress passed a law that I cannot smoke?"—the bamboo curtain had just been prized open: full diplomatic relations between the two countries were only four weeks old, and the first imports from China—lots of wicker baskets—were just hitting American stores. Today, the U.S. and China trade more than $200 billion in goods a year: American families watch televisions produced in China from Chinese-made sofa sets, and major U.S. corporations consider China one of their most important markets. Each country has thousands of bureaucrats whose careers are spent guiding the relationship through precipitous highs (China joining the World Trade Organization in 2001) and stomach-churning lows (the U.S. bombing of Beijing's embassy in Belgrade in 1999).
When presidents meet, the roller coaster is supposed to give way to two individuals in a golf cart taking the speed bumps at the lowest possible velocity. The U.S.-China relationship has so many bumps, you could call it corrugated: competition for oil resources; U.S. concern over China's military buildup, its trade deficit and human rights abuses; China's worries over rising protectionism in the U.S., and its resentment at being treated with what it calls a "cold war mentality." But Bush and Hu, while hardly chums, have met five times before at such forums as APEC and the G8 summit, and fireworks aren't expected. (A more formal summit in Washington was cancelled due to Hurricane Katrina.) Analysts in both Washington and Beijing say the meeting will probably be dominated by not-so-tough talk on what they call the Three Ts: trade, terrorism and Taiwan. But there could be surprises: British Prime Minister Tony Blair wound up a two-day trip to Beijing last week in which he spent eight hours interacting with Hu's number two, Premier Wen Jiabao. Blair praised Wen's "frankness and openness."
At the start of what many are predicting will be the "Chinese century," Washington and Beijing are partners in charting the world's future. So what should Hu and Bush be discussing? To answer that question, Time surveyed some of the most involved watchers of the U.S.-China relationship. A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, according to the old Chinese saying. What follows is a survey of opinions on the direction in which Hu and Bush should be heading.
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