The USA's relationship with modern China was opened up by Richard Nixon, don't forget.
Do you know the Charlie Rose show? (U.S. Public Television) He had on Kissinger last night, who of course was Nixon's right hand man.
Now, I'm not going to say that I am a fan of Kissinger, however, the guy's been on the ground in international relations for longer than I've been aware of anything.
His take on it is, in a nutshell: China doesn't seek world domination as much as it simply wants to be respected.
It was something of a breakthrough, minor as it is, for the Chinese leadership to admit that they need to work on their human rights.
If Obama did a little kowtowing to get that much out of them, well...
Kissinger talked about the fact that China's a 4000 year old civilization... how much even the communist government resembled the empires of their past. You can't just impose a gallant western ethos on a people so ancient (H.K. likening the hierarchal nature of the Chinese as being 'in their DNA).
Bit by bit.... I don't say it's not ethically compromised, but there's a point to taking it slow.
