After initially laying down tough conditions for co-operating with the United States, China is now voicing support for the US-led coalition and the bombing of Afghanistan in a new atmosphere of co-operation that has surprised many diplomats.
'For the first time there is some depth and substance to co-operation with the rest of the world. It points to how China will take a higher international profile in the future,' one Western diplomat said.
The mainland's virulent and alarmist attacks on American hegemonism, which surfaced during Nato's bombing of Yugoslavia two years ago, and its warnings of a Nato plot to encircle China have been put aside. Forgotten, too, is the emotional rhetoric against the US that boiled up during the spy-plane incident earlier this year.
'China is now part of the international community alongside America,' said Pang Zhongying, a professor at Qinghua University's International Relations Institute. 'China and the US share common interests in attacking terrorism, so this war might bring about a new relationship between China and the US.'
The mainland has even stifled its opposition to Japan's sudden moves to lift 50-year-old restrictions preventing Japanese Self-Defence Forces from taking part in overseas missions. A week ago, President Jiang Zemin gave his grudging consent to this development, even though Japan has ignored Chinese preconditions: a written and formal apology for war crimes, and a promise to desist from further visits to the Yasukuni Shrine honouring Japan's war dead.
Analysts wonder whether these developments are evidence of a new Chinese foreign policy or merely a temporary aberration.
