IN the past month Beijing has achieved its most cherished diplomatic goal since the 1940s: a position of equidistance from and parity with Washington and Moscow. And then some. The erstwhile sick man of Asia is now playing one 'superpower' off against the other.
United States President Bill Clinton, desperate for a foreign policy success and some momentum for the American economy, is likely to call on China in the next six months or so.
The confidence with which President Jiang Zemin 'confirmed' his invitation to Mr Clinton on the eve of his departure for Moscow last Friday showed that the Chinese had picked up sufficient signals.
Flushed with the success of notching up sales of US$6 billion during his China tour late last month, US Commerce Secretary Ron Brown went beyond his area of competence when he announced in Hong Kong that the granting of Most Favoured Nation status to China had become 'substantially automatic'. Mr Brown failed to utter a single sentence of significance on human rights, which had proven a potent weapon against China.
Diplomats said Washington will lift the remaining Tiananmen Square-related sanctions, principally a ban on the export of weapons, in the run-up to Mr Clinton's visit.
Mr Jiang's recent visit to Russia has achieved what Foreign Minister Qian Qichen called 'a novel model of partnership' with Moscow. Mr Qian defined this as a relationship of 'non-antagonism and non-alliance that is oriented towards the 21st century'.
