Getting To Know One Another

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Yan Xuetong
Director, Institute of International Studies, Tsinghua University, Beijing
First, President Hu should tell President Bush that both sides need to manage the relationship better, and that America's containment policy won't work. Second, China hopes the U.S. will stop arms sale to Taiwan because it is encouraging Taiwan secessionists. Third, Chinese have the same right as Americans to enjoy a rich lifestyle and do not appreciate the double standard on China's oil policy. The issue should not become politicized, as when CNOOC made its bid to buy Unocal.

John Kamm
Executive Director, Dui Hua Foundation, San Francisco
President Bush should surprise President Hu by putting human rights at the top of the agenda. When China releases political and religious prisoners—labor organizers, peaceful protesters, journalists, scholars dealing in "state secrets," Catholic priests and Tibetan nuns—its image for the American people and their representatives in Washington improves more than when it buys a fleet of airplanes or announces another round of six-party talks on North Korea.

Hou Wenzhuo
Director, Empowerment and Rights Institute, Beijing
I have been in trouble lately because of my work promoting the rights of individuals. Police have searched the offices of my institute and confined me to my home for 10 days during the recent trip to Beijing of the U.N. Human Rights Commissioner. But my problems are minor compared to those of many Chinese, and I think Presidents Bush and Hu should strengthen their dialogue on human rights—especially to highlight the persecution of people who come to Beijing seeking the redress of wrongs committed by local officials.

David D. Ho
Director & CEO, Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, New York
It is time for China to place greater importance on one of the hidden costs of its economic rise: the lack of adequate health care for much of its population. Another influenza pandemic capable of killing tens of millions of people is inevitable, especially as the deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus is plaguing many parts of Asia today.

Peter Mandelson
E.U. Trade Commissioner
We should not begrudge China the fruits of its development and the benefits of its wto membership. But if China does not understand the need to temper its impact on the rest of the world, it risks provoking a dangerous backlash from those who should be its friends and partners.

Paul Gewirtz
Director, China Law Center, Yale Law School
Legal reform in China is crucial to many aspects of China's development—advancing a market economy, protecting human rights, fighting corruption, encouraging foreign investment, and fully integrating China into the world community. People outside of China, as well as inside of China, have a stake in these things. So it would be valuable for President Bush to emphasize the importance of the rule of law when he meets President Hu.

Bob Carr
Premier of New South Wales, 1995-2005
As the two Presidents meet, the polar caps are melting. China and America must talk global warming. Specifically they must discuss a strategy to curb the rising carbon emissions that, over the next 40 years, will deliver a rise in average global temperatures of a full two degrees. Every scientist knows how dangerous that is.

Wang Xiaodong
Researcher, China Youth Research Center, Beijing
The Taiwan issue is the most urgent short-term problem in Sino-U.S. relations, but I believe two other issues are more important in the long term. One is relations between China and Japan. Second, as China grows stronger, the country will be obligated to play a larger role in maintaining world order. The U.S. needs to decide how to accept China.