From TIME.com: Beijing will use the occasion to showcase its status as a world power.
A visit by a U.S. president once had the power to change China. President Nixon’s breakthrough meeting in Chairman Mao’s quarters in 1972 signaled China’s willingness to side with the U.S. against the Soviet Union; President Reagan’s visit in 1984 helped consolidate China’s economic reforms; and President Clinton’s arrival in 1998″the first American presidential visit since the Tiananmen massacre”generated such hope for political reform that a group of dissidents responded by forming an opposition party.
President Bush’s weekend in Beijing, by contrast, is more likely to show how stable China, and its relationship with the U.S., have become.
