The first foreign policy crisis of the Bush administration has highlighted the growing position of China as a major player in the Asia-Pacific arena and increasingly, on the world stage as well.

In effect, China is on the move on a military, economic and diplomatic level. As such they want to be taken seriously as a global power and will not be dissuaded from asserting themselves increasingly in this manner.

Of course, China has for the past 12 years been a "presence" to American military and trade officials, even to the average American ever since the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing in 1989.

But lately China has wanted to flex its muscles in everything from its petition to enter the WTO, to warning the US over missile sales to Taiwan, with the renewed incentive to suppress Taiwanese calls for independence.

Furthermore, during this latest Sino-American crisis, Chinese President Jiang Zemin has been traveling on an extended tour of the nations of Latin and South America to strengthen multilateral ties.

I am a foreign policy buff and I believe that China will continue to bear watching for some time to come.

Why?

By virtue of China becoming the new strategic competitor with the United States for dominance in the Asia-Pacific rim.

Since this is the future, my question then is, "Should we deepen economic/trade ties with China or should we impose an isolationist policy towards this Asian giant?"

Whichever path our government takes will affect us profoundly.

I am of the opinion that we should continue to engage China. Why do we need to make an enemy of such a colossal nation?

Ever since the Cold War has been over, must we invariably search out new opponents to fill the void left by the former Soviet Union?

We can engage China through diplomatic and trade efforts, gradually influencing them to allow greater human rights and making their transition to a responsible member of the world community possible.

We will need the added efforts of the Chinese government as U.S. officials continue the search for Americans still missing in action in Vietnam.

Then there is the multi-billion dollar trade we conduct between our two countries right now, which could increase with liberalization of the Chinese market.

Soured relations between both nations could damage US investments in the near future.

So do not to take the path of trying to cage China in, we will find ourselves needlessly confronting, not a potential friend, but a powerful foe with over 1.3 billion people, numerous nuclear weapons, and a military hungry to extend its fighting power.

This is not Cuba, Libya or Iraq.

Hopefully, the damage done in Sino-American relations will be a short-term one.

As in all relationships from the individual, to the global, love means never having to say you're sorry. Or at least, very very sorry.

Mark Rawls

Mark A. Rawls is the Asst. Vice-Pres./Dir. of Insurance Services of Golden Circle Life Insurance Co., which is the 8th largest black-owned life insurance company in America (Black Enterprise Magazine, June 2000 issue).