The Foreign Service Journal, May 2005

M A Y 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 39 F O C U S O N C H I N A D EEPENING S INO -A MERICAN T IES AT THE G RASS R OOTS nder Presidents George W. Bush and Hu Jintao, U.S.-China relations have settled into a pragmatic period of cooperation on many important issues — e.g., counterterrorism and nonproliferation, the Six- Party Korea talks, management of differences over trade, and maintaining stability in the Taiwan Strait. Even Beijing’s recent anti-secession law and the U.S.-Japan agreement that Taiwan is a mutual security concern are intended primar- ily to ward off precipitous moves on Taiwan toward formal independence that might require action. To a great extent, this period of relative calm is due to the Bush administration’s preoccupation with Iraq and the Middle East, as well as U I MPROVEMENTS IN C HINA ’ S HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD WILL NOT COME OVERNIGHT FROM THE TOP DOWN , BUT WILL DEVELOP GRADUALLY THROUGH SOCIAL ACTIVISM . B Y C AROL L EE H AMRIN Jeff Moores