Chinese President Jiang Zemin is visiting the United States. The high point of the trip is a stop at President George W. Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch, where the two men will indulge in summit rituals. The presidents will probably spend more time eating barbecue and posing for photographs than they will talk business. Nonetheless, the summit is important: There are pressing issues on the agenda. More significant, the meeting will help keep the Sino-U.S. relationship on its current trajectory. After a difficult start, bilateral relations between the two countries are as good as they have ever been. The challenge is maintaining that positive relationship as the two countries grapple with important international issues.
Until a month or so ago, the main purpose of this week's visit was to reward Mr. Jiang for his efforts on behalf of the U.S.-China relationship. The Crawford invitation was a particularly prized possession: They are issued only to Mr. Bush's closest "friends" and allies. Mr. Jiang's visit puts him in an elite group with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The symbolism is especially important as Mr. Jiang prepares to exit the Chinese political scene. China's National Party Congress was moved back so that he could visit the U.S. while still wearing the hats of president and Communist Party secretary general. And hats are important: This visit to Texas will recall former supreme leader Deng Xiaoping's famous trip to Texas in 1989, when he was photographed wearing a cowboy hat. The lineage is important for Mr. Jiang, who is eager to claim his place in China's political hierarchy with Mao Zedong and Deng. In more concrete terms, one of the key features of his legacy will be the effort to put relations with the U.S. back on track after the Tiananmen killings of 1989.