BUSH ADMINISTRATION SEEKS MILITARY TIES WITH CHINA
Overshadowed by the controversy over the invasion of Iraq have been Bush administration efforts to improve ties with Russia and China, a policy that paid dividends when President Putin recently reversed course on the need for intensive IAEA inspections in Iran, a longtime customer for Russian nuclear hardware and expertise.
Similarly the United States has been exploring expanding military ties with Beijing, incidentally or intentionally shoring up the waning position of Jiang Zemin in China’s political hierarchy. The former president and Communist party chief still retains supreme control over Chinese military affairs despite having grudgingly vacated the other two ” power posts “.
