If there used to be a general, though fragile, balance between Chinese perceptions of the United States as primarily a strategic partner and a potential rival as well, it has been upset.
On Friday, the Pentagon delivered a report to the US Congress on Chinese military power, warning of "credible" possibilities of a Chinese attack on Taiwan and broader ambitions of the Chinese military.
Coinciding with and echoing the Pentagon report, the US-China Security Review Commission, a US Congress establishment, issued its own report on US security concerns arising from business ties with China.
To defuse the China menace it describes, it proposes limits on Beijing's access to US capital markets, restrictions on US exports to China, and more report requirements for American firms doing business in China.
Neither Americans, nor Chinese are unfamiliar with such rhetoric. But the rising decibels as well as the increasingly official sources threaten substantial changes in American and hence Chinese perceptions of each other.
If the institutionalization of American perceptions of China as a threat continues, as seen in the reports, qualitative changes are inevitable in relations between the two countries.
The current pattern, under which the Chinese want an American friend, while the Americans see a Chinese enemy, is not destined to last, given the intensifying American antagonism.
Both reports were the results of a combination of paranoia and hysteria.
The Pentagon report neglected the important fact that the Taiwan question itself, and the subsequent tension across the Taiwan Straits were of American creation.
The so-called Chinese military build-up in the area is a natural response to the US moves to arm Taiwan. What is wrong with the Chinese fear of loss of territory? No nation can react otherwise when its sovereignty is under threat.
The Congress panel report displays more bias than reason. Following its logic, the only way to ensure security is to cut all business ties with China. That hurts not only the Chinese.
People are not enemies until they see each other as such. If both countries perceive each other as foes, they cannot help but become enemies.
American China-bashers are driving the two countries towards a head-on collision.
(China Daily July 16, 2002)
