Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji came to Washington at the worst possible time, what with the current anti-China feeding frenzy in the press and on Capitol Hill. China's recent spate of human-rights violations and alleged espionage activities have made it open season on China -- "innocent until proven guilty" has little weight in the court of public opinion.

Nonetheless, Zhu's visit provides the opportunity for a major step forward in Sino-U.S. relations, if the Clinton administration is prepared to engage China's number two leader (behind President Jiang Zemin) in a much-needed strategic dialogue in addition to anticipated economic discussions. The point is neither to demonize China nor to let it off the hook when its behavior violates international norms, but to seriously discuss the issues that threaten to put our nations on a collision course.

Strategic partnership. The first things both sides need to do, in the interest of clarity, is to refrain from ever again using the term "strategic partnership." Sino-U.S. relations do not, and are not likely to ever, constitute a strategic relationship by almost anyone's definition of that term. What is needed is dialogue on the issues that divide us. What we should be seeking is a accommodation in the positive sense of the term, i.e., we must learn how to agree to disagree in a less confrontational way.