You Are Judged by the Company You Keep

SHENYANG, China The decision by Washington and Beijing to postpone President Hu Jintao's official visit to the United States, because of President George W. Bush's preoccupation with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, allows both sides to defuse, at least for now, a thorny diplomatic issue. Beijing was upset that Hu was not going to be accorded a state visit - a perceived snub that Chinese interlocutors were blaming on administration "neocons."

In truth, the reason may have more to do with the company Hu has been keeping lately; a problem that is not likely to go away anytime soon and which should be on Bush's agenda when he meets with Hu later in the month in New York along the sidelines of the United Nations' 60th anniversary celebrations.

In the last few months, Hu has welcomed both Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe (July) and Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov (May) to Beijing for 21-gun salutes; Karimov's visit came within two weeks of the Andijan massacre and was followed by a state visit by Hu to Uzbekistan in June. Add to this list China's systematic efforts to block stronger Security Council action against the genocidal government in Sudan; its continued maneuvering to prevent the Security Council from discussing North Korea's flagrant violation of international nuclear and human rights norms or Iran's nuclear aspirations; and its criticism of Washington, and even of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, for "interference in Myanmar's internal affairs": China's foreign minister, Li Zhaoxing, skipped the annual Asean Regional Forum ministerial meeting in late July to visit Myanmar to demonstrate Beijing's solidarity with Yangon.

In short, as one surveys the globe's pariah regimes, it seems the one thing they all have in common is the same best friend: China.

It is true that economic reform and limited political changes in China have helped to move the Middle Kingdom back into a position of prominence. China also deserves some credit for its constructive role in arranging the six-party talks aimed at resolving the nuclear standoff with North Korea. And cooperative, constructive relations between Washington and Beijing serve the national security interests of both nations and contribute significantly to regional stability.

But even as Washington applauds growing cooperation with Beijing on issues like the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, currency revaluation and a modest reduction in cross-strait tensions with Taiwan, it cannot help noticing an increasingly active Chinese diplomatic campaign aimed at protecting, if not emboldening, some of the globe's most repressive regimes.

Washington has also taken note of Uzbekistan's announcement in late July that it was withdrawing its permission for U.S. troops to use its airbase at Karshi-Khanabad, mere weeks after the Chinese-organized Shanghai Cooperation Organization (involving Russia and four Central Asian states) had called on Washington to set a deadline for withdrawing from Central Asian military bases. Given the important role these bases play in pursuing the war on terrorism, the SCO's pronouncement calls into serious question Beijing's (and Moscow's) professed commitment to assisting in this ongoing struggle.

It's true that many Washington conservatives (and a fair number of liberals as well) were against granting a state visit to the leader of a nondemocratic country that seems intent on propping up or protecting the world's worst regimes. Instead of blaming others, however, China should take a closer look at its own diplomatic behavior. If Beijing truly wants a "strategic relationship" with Washington, it needs to be a little more particular about the friends it keeps or the values and reprehensible behavior it seems intent to protect.