Its an important time for him to go there, to explain to the Americans that China is not a threat to the U.S.. China wants to be a partner, and China wants to let the Americans know what has happened in China.
The general feeling here is that the trade deficit does not really come at the U.S. expense. The U.S. makes money at every stage of Chinese production.
I think he should have come a long time ago. I think it's very important for the Pentagon to develop a relationship with the Chinese military, build trust and avoid confrontation.
China will hope the United States does not sell weapons to Taiwan and does not strengthen military and political relations with Taiwan.
China wants the highest-level reception to reinforce the importance of the relationship.
In the minds of the Chinese people, this is unacceptable. That the United States, after doing this, still refuses to acknowledge responsibility and refuses to pay for the damages.
Bush wants to strengthen relations with China, but he is politically weak at the moment. For political reasons, we feel we need to help Bush.
As for Beijing, the 'One China' principle is the political basis ... that the two sides must agree on before they can engage in any kind of dialogue.
So from the Chinese perspective, those people who want to be foreigners should not be given an equal chance to make money here, just to conduct subversive activities in Taiwan.
They want to reduce the external threat from the United States, but they also want to be sure that this issue will not be hijacked by the American right-wingers and racists in imposing a policy of containment against China.
