US President George W. Bush's call for greater democracy and respect for human rights during his recent trip to Asia should have come as no surprise.
While it would be easy to dismiss Mr Bush's stance as just part of efforts to promote US interests, such a view would conveniently ignore the moral imperative integral to America's views of China.
While in Beijing, Mr Bush worshipped at one of the mainland's state-sanctioned Protestant churches and urged Beijing to establish ties with the Vatican. In a speech in Kyoto, Japan, he applauded Japan, South Korea and Taiwan as examples of societies that have become vibrant and prosperous democracies. Regarding the mainland, he said: 'As China reforms its economy, its leaders are finding that once the door to freedom is opened even a crack, it cannot be closed.'
China occupies a unique place in the American consciousness. The relationship is unlike any other, and not just in the superficial areas. Ties are long-standing, starting in the 19th century. Although Beijing's view is that the relationship originally was one between an imperialist power and a subjugated one, nothing could be further from the truth.
Starting with missionaries, the United States has always had a deep fascination with and affection for China, reinforced by the full range of personal and official ties, emigration to the US and the two countries' experience as allies in the second world war.
The depth of Chinese studies in the US is unparalleled in the west, as is arguably the exposure of Americans at all levels to some form of Chinese influence. This ranges from food to martial arts, pandas, literature and other forms of higher culture. The US-China relationship is full of people who have become an essential part of the American consciousness, both popular and intellectual: Sun Yat-sen, the Soong sisters, writer Pearl Buck. And the list goes on.
As such, American attitudes towards the mainland and Taiwan - a democracy nurtured under US tutelage - have never been based on purely strategic considerations. A moral and highly personal narrative is apparent and, for that reason, it is unrealistic to think that the US can ever disclaim concern over human development in both the mainland and Taiwan.