The Virginian-Pilot 
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, March 17, 1996                 TAG: 9603150028
SECTION: COMMENTARY               PAGE: J4   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Editorial
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   55 lines

AT THE CENTER OF ASIA, AN ANACHRONISM CHINA POLICY NEEDED

For 50 years, the mainland Chinese have tried to pretend Taiwan is simply a renegade province. The events this week in the Taiwan Strait are a reminder that attempts to deny reality can have real-world consequences.

Though a nascent capitalism has taken hold in China and it now trades widely, politically the old autocratic ways remain. If anything, China grows more belligerent.

This week it has rattled sabers in Taiwan's direction in hopes of intimidating voters who may elect a pro-independence party next week. The United States deployed massive naval power to deter aggression.

Congress may try to micromanage China policy with a House resolution demanding that we defend Taiwan militarily. China experts believe such an unequivocal stance is wrong, that it waves the proverbial red flag at the bull. Congress should keep its resolution to itself and let the United States conduct foreign policy with one voice.

That's not to say we shouldn't be asking where U.S. vital interests lie vis a vis China? Clearly our attempts to use the carrot of trade to modify Chinese behavior haven't worked. The repression within goes on, trade agreements are abused by rampant intellectual-property piracy, weapons exports to renegade regimes continue and neighbors are threatened.

China can't be allowed to throw its weight around in its increasingly prosperous neighborhood. Japan, South Korea and the Asian Tigers have embraced capitalism with spectacular results. Political repression is less rampant. From India to South Korea, there's hope of open markets, peaceful competition, a rising standard of living.

But the region must not just compete in trade but cooperate in security arrangements. During the Cold War the United States set out to contain China and the Soviets, later to play them off against each other. We were the only plausible cop on the beat.

But Asia is more able to participate in its own security arrangements now. And the United States is less able to afford the defense of its economic competitors. We still have the only Navy able to perform a deterrent function of the sort practiced last week. But 50 years after the end of World War II, Japan ought to be sharing more of the common burden.

Viable Asian treaty arrangements are needed in which the United States participates but is not expected to take most of the risk or pay most of the price. When arms are sold to dangerous regimes, there ought to be a unified response. When trade agreements are broken, there ought to be consequences.

It would be pleasant if China ceased its repression at home and aggression abroad, but hoping for the best must be tempered by preparing for the worst. The United States shouldn't have to go it alone. An Asian foreign policy for the 21st century is needed. We haven't got one now. by CNB