The rise of the red tide and the waning of the eagle power

The Chinese president Hu Jintao is on a four-day visit to the US, the apex of which will be the one hour lunch with President Bush tomorrow.

Hu’s visit to the US comes at a time when the Chinese economy is sky rocketing, much to the concern of the Americans.

Bush must be alarmed at the growth rate of the Chinese economy. He surely would like to allay his unease over his country’s $202bn bilateral trade deficit.

Other concerns include the rampant intellectual property piracy in China and Beijing's undervalued currency. China has also been actively pursuing trade deals in Africa and Latin America and coveting many nations that are not in the good books of America.

The communist government has also been busy signing energy agreements with many other nations as it progresses in becoming the biggest oil user, thus its plans to have sufficient supply.

Militarily, it is also showing some muscle by having strategic relationship with Iran and North Korea and at the same time pursuing its long-term ambition of annexing US-ally Taiwan.

And locally, its human rights record has been poor and the Americans for long have been asking for a better record.

Given all these concerns, why then did Washington downgrade Hu’s visit as an official visit and not as a state visit.

What is the difference you may ask? The main one is that in a state visit the Chinese president would have been given a state dinner in his honour. Now he only gets a lunch with Bush.

But more importantly, if it was state visit, there would have been avenues for the Americans to bring up their concerns at a higher, official level formally.

Now, what we might have is a lunch chat with Bush telling Hu about these informally.

However for the Chinese, this visit is surely a profitable one. Chinese businessmen in the entourage have dispensed contracts worth $16bn (£9bn) while Hu has meetings slated with Boeing and Bill Gates at Microsoft.

So why is Bush ignoring the Chinese onslaught?

According to some political commentators it is because the US president has never made up his mind how to deal with China's rise. Others think Washington downgraded Hu’s visit because Bush was angered by China's rejection of its human rights criticisms on the ground "that a government responsible for the Abu Ghraib prison abuses has no business disparaging others".

Yet some say Bush is playing a strong hand weakly. They claim that the leverage the US has because of China's dependence on US trade and investment is useful in moving China's Communist party towards more liberal policies.

I think that Bush simply does not know how to deal with China’s economy burst. What has happened is that the global balance of power is changing and it is now up to the Chinese to set the timetable and agenda in future meetings.

Suddenly Washington is awashed with this panic realization – that the rise of China is posing awkward questions for the US and that its days as the world's economic superpower are numbered.

The Independent put it succinctly:

“China, with its endless supply of goods and its thirst for energy, has contributed more to global growth than America in recent years, and Beijing is well aware of this. Mr Hu's visit to America is about boosting China's prestige, earning respect for the world's fastest-growing major economy and matching some of that financial muscle with real political influence.”