New China, New World, New Day

When questions arose about American participation in the Beijing Olympics, few wondered which way President Bush's administration would go.

There was never a realistic chance this White House would boycott the Chinese event. Jimmy Carter tried that in 1980, keeping the U.S. out of the summer games in Moscow as a reproach to the Soviet Union over its invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviets were furious. More to the point, Americans were disappointed. It was one more sour note in a dismal year that ended with Carter's ouster from office.

Four years later, when the Olympics were held in Los Angeles (and managed masterfully), they became a kind of metaphor for the improved mood in America -- and a virtual extension of Ronald Reagan's re-election campaign.

So George W. Bush was never going to choose the Carter route regarding the participation of U.S. athletes. The only question was whether the administration would grant the Chinese the full measure of respect and recognition they so clearly expected from us and everyone else. And that came down to the personal participation of the president himself.

Here again, it was always a good bet that Mr. Bush would be all in.

That's not to say there were no nods and salutes to the issue of human rights in China. Some attention has been paid to the dissenters and critics who have been brutally repressed (especially in the lead up to the game this spring and summer). A few were even invited to the White House. The president also gave a speech in Bangkok scolding the leaders of China just before he flew off to join them in Beijing at the opening ceremonies.

So now that's done, he seemed to say, let the games begin. The president will behave himself once on Chinese soil, and there will be no further fuss and bother about the embarrassing side issues.

Truth be told, the relationship with China has become every bit as important for the U.S. today as the relationship with the Soviet Union was throughout the various stages of the Cold War. While the two nations are not locked in a mortal arms race -- at least not yet -- they are true competitors in all the other facets of international relations.

Americans still hold the upper hand in matters military, and in high tech and consumer products. We are also farther along in harmonizing our various hungers with the need to preserve the environment. We may also think we have made greater strides in accommodating and appreciating human diversity.

But the Chinese are on the march in all these areas and more besides. Economically, they pose a challenge not only to the U.S., but the whole world. Their savvy handling of trade and finance, coupled with our own profligate habits, means the Chinese now hold half a trillion dollars in U.S. Treasury securities. They hold more IOUs from us than any nation other than Japan, and they are closing in on No. 1.

So yes, we care about human rights in China. But that is not the bottom line in our relationship. It's just an element in a mix that grows more materialistic (and less idealistic) with each year.

Ths is just one of several changing foreign relationships in the late months of the Bush administration. We have seen the U.S. become more pragmatic in dealing with the Iraqi government: allowing talk of time horizons, if not timetables, for withdrawal. The saber-rattling over Iran has given way to more multi-lateral pressure. We have seen more willingness to negotiate with North Korea, and less truculence toward parts of Europe.

President Bush has also succeeded in shifting the center of gravity for American policy toward the Far East. He has been to Asia nine times, to China four times. He has met with Chinese presidents 14 times. No one American chief executive has done this before. As Mr. Bush noted in his Bangkok remarks, we are now trading more goods by dollar value across the Pacific Ocean than across the Atlantic. The globe has a new tilt.

The president's travels this year have been about bidding farewell to the world, one sector at a time. The president can afford to ease off the aggressive posture of his early years. He has made his points about American power, American interests, American ideas.

He believes he has staked his reputation on principles of strength and activism. No one will doubt where he stood.

Now, with the clock running out and his approval ratings under 30 percent at home, he knows he cannot press for much more. So the State Department does what it can to smooth things over wherever possible, and the president makes his tour and waits for the judgment of history.