As expected, U.S. President George W. Bush and Chinese President Jiang Zemin agreed at their Oct. 25 summit to strengthen bilateral cooperation. Cooperative relations between the two powers are becoming firmly established, a far cry from early 2001 when Washington viewed Beijing as a "strategic rival."
For the past year, China has been taking a highly flexible stance toward the United States. It has remained basically neutral regarding Iraq, cooperated with the U.S. regarding North Korea's nuclear-arms development and restrained itself regarding U.S. weapons exports to Taiwan.
Beijing is adopting a realistic approach to promote friendship with the U.S., the sole military superpower, and foster a peaceful international environment that is indispensable for its economic expansion. This development reflects a new security concept China has been pushing since last spring.