"Are you an American?""Yes!""What did you think about last night's decision on the Olympics?"
This conversation played itself out half a dozen times the day after China's successful bid to host the 2008 Olympics was announced, as I walked around Tiananmen Square and neighboring districts. From hotel bellmen to shoppers who literally came up to me out of the blue, they all seemed interested in knowing what Americans thought about China's victory. Most seemed somewhat surprised (but delighted) when I responded that I was very pleased for China.
Almost everyone I talked to in Beijing, from government officials to leading scholars to the man on the street, seems genuinely puzzled and concerned about the future direction of Sino-U.S. relations. Few are ready to conclude that Washington is embarked on a course of confrontation and containment, but many see this as the prevailing trend.