China joins US in 'Second Cold War'
By taking a leading role at a conference where political and economic heavyweights such as the United States, Japan and Russia were present, China indicated it was a significant player on the global stage and its views should take an additional weight.
''Cooperation with the outside world is no longer just an empty propaganda phrasing,'' says one foreign diplomat in Beijing. ''There is depth and substance to it. It points to how China will take a higher international profile in the future.''
''China is now part of the international community alongside America,'' asserts Pang Zhongying, a professor at Qinghua University's International Relations Institute. ''China and the United States share common interests in attacking terrorism, so this might bring about a new relationship between China and the United States.''
China appears to have transcended the former division between the rival ideologies of capitalism and communism and joined the club of free-trade aspiring nations, united in their anti-terrorist fight.
''This war might come to be known as the Second Cold War,'' reflects Professor Pang.. ''During the last Cold War, China and America joined together to confront the former Soviet Union. In this war, our countries are together again, this time fighting against terrorism.''
Long-standing contradictions
Pang and other Chinese analysts however, warn against too rosy predictions for the aftermath of the Afghan war and say the impact of the new Beijing-Washington coalition would not alter the long-standing contradictions between United States and China.
When US President George W Bush met with President Jiang Zemin at the Shanghai summit of the Asia-Pacific Cooperation Forum (Apec) this month, they emphasised shared goals and concerns in Central Asia.
But elsewhere on China's periphery, the two countries remain engaged in serious competition.
''One can foresee that once the anti-terror threat against America has decreased, the main contradictions between China and the United States would re-emerge again,'' says Ye Zicheng, research fellow at the International Relations Institute of Beijing University.
''It is hard to imagine that Washington would completely abandon its current policies for the eastward expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the creation of theatre of missile defense. The Taiwan question and the issue of human rights stay also in the path of long-term improvement of China-US relations,'' Ye argues.
On the surface of the events, China has responded bravely to the challenge posed by President Bush's division of the world - ''if you are not with us, you are with the terrorist'' - in the aftermath of Sept 11 terror attacks on the United States.
Phone call
Jiang was one of the first foreign leaders to telephone Bush and express his shock and condolences to the American people. He condemned the suicide plane attacks on New York and Washington and pledged his full support for the fight against terrorism.
A week after the attacks, Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan went to Washington on a trip that had been scheduled earlier to prepare for the summit between Jiang and Bush at the Apec meeting.
During Tang's visit, the two countries agreed to share intelligence that might aid the Bush administration's war on terrorism. Soon after, Beijing sent a delegation of counter-terrorism experts to Washington to explore cooperation.
In its support for the anti-terror war, Beijing has gone as far as to stifle its opposition to Japan's moves to lift 50-year-old restrictions preventing Japanese Self-Defense Forces from taking part in overseas missions.
There are plenty of reasons for Beijing to cooperate with the US-led coalition. This will burnish China's international image, improve its relations with Washington and legitimise its fight against separatism in Xinjiang province, where pro-independence Islamic activists have often staged violent protests.
Yet sweeping developments over the last few weeks have also seen some of China's worst fears about its strategic environment materialise. The arrival of US troops on China's western frontier is something Chinese strategists have dreaded for some time, as there are already American bases in Japan and South Korea.
US interests in Central Asia
''Washington wants to strengthen its political and military presence in Central Asia,'' warns Yuan Zheng from the American Studies Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. ''The US intention is to replace the Taliban with a Western style-government and control Central Asia's abundant resources of oil and natural gas.''
Other developments that keep Chinese strategists jittery are the expansion of Japan's military role and the rapprochement between Washington and Moscow.
Meeting Bush in Shanghai, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a firm endorsement of the US strikes in Afghanistan, saying they were a ''measured and accurate'' response to terrorist acts.
Putin indicated that an agreement might be reached between Moscow and Washington to breach their differences over the US-planned National Missile Defense system. If indeed the two presidents strike an accord during their November summit in Washington, this might pave the way for Russia to join Nato some day, in some form.
''If this happens, then China will have Nato on its borders,'' says Pang, voicing a long-standing Chinese fear.
While the fight against terrorism has provided a cause that is bringing China closer to the rest of the world, creating common ground for joint action with the United States and masking other key issues on which the big powers are at odds, it remains to be seen if China stands its course of newfound cooperation.
