If we no longer have Richard Nixon to kick around, we nonetheless have the former president's advice. On U.S. policy toward China, he states: “China, with its population and resources, is eventually going to be a superpower. It is vital that we help them become a superpower associated with the West rather than one that is against us.”

Sounds reasonable enough, until we consider the options. To announce such a goal might, in the short term, play hob with our diplomatic bargaining positions vis-à-vis Beijing itself or come at the expense of our traditional allies in Asia. And if this is to be the polar star of U.S. foreign policy over the long term, as Nixon suggests, what about other legitimate U.S. interests; what about the notion of the proper play of the international balance of power and America's concern for human rights and democratic values?