The Indian Example.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)

Foreign Affairs: It was scheduled long before the ports deal or the Cheney hunting accident, but President Bush's arrival this week in South Asia mercifully changes the subject. Welcome back, strategic thinking.

South Asia, of course, means India and Pakistan. The former stands as Asia's other ancient giant, a competitor and a counterweight to a China now bidding for regional if not world dominance. The latter remains a troubled ally in the war on terror.

According to various diplomats and pundits, the president would be well-advised not to breathe the word "counterweight," however. "Mr. Bush," warned The Economist, "should . . . be wary of sending the wrong signal about America's intentions towards China."

The ever-so-erudite British journal should relax. The fact is, however muted, any effort to forge stronger relations with Asia's oldest democracy -- indeed, the world's largest democracy -- puts Beijing on notice.

Just as Richard Nixon's "opening to China" a third of a century ago reminded the Soviet Union there were other Cold War players, a renewed focus on India can check an ambitious China. In an interesting twist of history, China -- largely because of its embrace of market economics -- has far surpassed Russia in global clout.

And India soon will pass China's 1.3 billion population, making it the world's most populous nation. Better yet, the multifaith, self-governing, largely English-speaking country enjoys an Anglo-Saxon legal system bequeathed by its onetime British colonizers. China, however laudable its turn to market economics, remains a contradiction: a capitalistic fig sprouted from a totalitarian thistle.

Politesse does dictate that President Bush, as he visits New Delhi, not trumpet too loudly the favorable realpolitik of his hosts. Our ties with China shouldn't be scuttled over a word misspoken. And India, with its history of making war with China, wants to cultivate its own friendly relations with the Middle Kingdom.