Politics_China, next aim?

Rice and Hu (Source: CNN)
Originally uploaded by bigkoala.

"When the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea stand together in support of peace and security, and promote our common values, Asia and the world become better, and safer."
-----U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at Sophia University in Japan, March.20, 2005

Many things happened after Rice finished her first visiting to Asia. Middle-Asia Kyrgyzstan's government collapsed after the President Askar Akayev for 15 years fled the country; Parkistan got 25 F-16 flighters from U.S. as the reward of a key ally in the war on terror amid the tension with its nuclear rival India. And then....

Rice's visit told that the White House is tightening their policies in Asia, especially China, after it got a hand out of the Iraqi war. A blogger friend once said that U.S. will "deal with" China after the war in Iraq. Now it is getting ahead of the schedule though the Iraqi war is still continuing.

The turn of the countries on Rice's visiting schedule, showed her priority of the various political matters. India and Pakistan are the second two stops, where Rice focused on the gas pipeline project from Iran through Pakistan and India's concern over the supply of F-16 fighters to Pakistan. At least, India prepared to accept the result though it was "greatly disappointed" in the comment on the deal.

Afghanistan is the third stop where Rice comforted people there saying "Washington will not abandon Afghanistan as it did in the 1990s", reported VOA. Rice said that the United States remained committed to assisting the Afghans as they prepare for September parliamentary elections.

Japan and South Korea(the Republic of Korea) are both important partners as Rice said in the first paragraph. In her speech given in Sophia University in Japan, she referred Japan and South Korea as the "essential Partnert", with Australia, Philippines and Thailand as the "alliances", also India as "broader stragetic relationship". Though she said she appreciated many efforts and supports from Chinese government in different issues, she hoped to "work with China to forge a common approach to the challenges of Sudan and Burma and Nepal". Rice even put the rise of China as one of the reasons for the States to maintain a very large number of U.S. forces in Okinawa.

Now it is the turn for China, the last stop for Rice, or the most hard to get through in Asia. CNN reported that North Korea and Taiwan are the most important two topics, but China itself is already a big topic for Rice to work out.

Rice said she was " a longtime specialist on the Soviet Union and then Russia", which may be the reason why U.S. took advantage in the policy of the former Soviet Union nations. But China is a "new factor" to her and her government.



Rice said she was " a longtime specialist on the Soviet Union and then Russia", which may be the reason why U.S. took advantage in the policy of the former Soviet Union nations. But China is a "new factor" to her and her government.