China changes its foreign stance

However, there appears to be another school of thought in China. A commentary carried by the official People's Daily castigated what it called a cold war mentality in the United States that leads it to continue to sell arms to Taiwan.

It said: “As China has witnessed rapid growth in recent years, the nature of the Cold War mentality has led to the emergence of the so-called China Threat Theory, Collapse-of-China Theory, and China's Responsibility Theory, etc.”

This seems to suggest that the expectation that a rising China should behave in a responsible fashion itself stems from a cold war mentality. Are there Chinese officials then who do not believe that Beijing needs to behave responsibly?

Certainly, the rest of the world wants to hold China up to a higher standard. The Economist magazine, for example, said in an editorial last week: “Too often China wants the power due a global giant while shrugging off the responsibilities, saying that it is still a poor country. It must be encouraged to play its part - for instance, on climate change, on Iran and by allowing its currency to appreciate.”

This is no theory. This is an expectation held by many people who while not begrudging China an important voice in global councils also expect that the country will behave with maturity and responsibility.

To label such expectations as nothing more than a discredited cold war “theory” will only bolster fear of a China threat and hope that the country will collapse.

China may be rising but it is not yet America's equal. And the rhetoric emanating from Beijing may well lead the United States to reconsider the feasibility of its policy of cultivating China as a strategic partner, one that will do its share in the resolution of regional and global issues.

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