Qin Yaqing; A New Breed In Beijing.(vice dean, China Foreign Affairs University)(Interview)

Byline: Melinda Liu

As Beijing's economy and global influence continue to grow, so does the relationship between China and the United States. When George W. Bush visited China recently, he asked for greater currency reforms, intellectual-property protection and political freedom. He left with a reported $4 billion Boeing deal to sell aircraft to China, but few Chinese concessions. Now all eyes are turning to the inaugural East Asian Summit in early December, during which representatives from 16 Asia-Pacific countries will discuss the establishment of an East Asian Community modeled after the European Union--but U.S. officials were not invited. NEWSWEEK's Melinda Liu spoke with Qin Yaqing, vice dean of China Foreign Affairs University and a leading scholar involved in the East Asian Community concept. Excerpts:

LIU: Have Americans who see China as a threat moderated their views?

QIN: It's hard for them to change their thinking. It's hard for the neocons to think China is less of a threat. But the Bush administration is more pragmatic, especially since the beginning of the second term, more down-to-earth. Somewhat less ideological but still strong. There's a more cooperative attitude. China was especially grateful for a very clear statement [by Bush] about Taiwan, opposing Taiwanese independence.

Now there are frictions in the China-Japan relationship, which also affect the United States, a military ally of Japan.

I quite agree; it's still very difficult. I'm cautiously optimistic for long-term China-Japan relations because I don't think either wants to have a war with the other. In this situation, if a big problem should occur, it would be a kind of misperception or accident. The fundamental thing for China and Japan is to improve overall relations. China and the United States have done a very important thing, which is to engage each other on the level of strategic talks. Then you can rise above the trivia, the small things, the very specific issues, so that you can see how to cooperate with each other.

China has made a big push to improve relations in Latin America, where Bush recently had a rough welcome.