This time next year, more world attention will be directed at China than at any time in its 2,000-year history as a unified state, and more of us will be viewing Beijing on television than at any time since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. At exactly 8:08 p.m. and 8 seconds on Aug. 8, 2008—guess what number is seen as lucky in Chinese culture—the opening ceremonies of the 29th Summer Olympic Games will commence at the new $400 million Beijing National Stadium. And a bit after that, some revered Chinese athlete—perhaps Houston Rockets center Yao Ming—will very likely climb the stairs at one end of the hypermodern "bird's nest" and ignite the Olympic caldron, creating a flaming symbol of the global sports spectacle and, perhaps, of the start of the "Chinese Century."
Suddenly, Americans feel vulnerable to China. Not on the battlefield but at the dinner table. The recent contamination incidents involving imported Chinese seafood, pet food, and even toothpaste have eroded Americans' confidence in the nation's food-safety defenses.
Realists insist the U.S. and China are slated for military conflict in the decades ahead. America cannot peacefully accommodate China's rise because it subverts our role as the world's lone superpower.
AP - A top South Korean envoy headed to Afghanistan on Thursday, scrambling to save 22 of his country's citizens held captive by Taliban kidnappers after the militants killed one hostage.
AP - The U.S. military has noted a "significant improvement" in the aim of attackers firing rockets and mortars into the heavily fortified Green Zone in the past three months that it has linked to training in Iran, a top commander said Thursday.
AP - Documents indicate eight congressional leaders were briefed about the Bush administration's terrorist surveillance program on the eve of its expiration in 2004, contradicting sworn Senate testimony this week by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
One of 23 people held hostage in Afghanistan by the Taliban has been killed. Provincial police chief Gen. Ali Shah Ahmadzai said the recovered body of a South Korean had "bullet holes from head to toe."