If Chang is indulging in wishfulness, he certainly seems to be tempering it.
I think this is worth highlighting:
. . . China will one day be a constructive participant in world affairs.
But it is not one today. Our policy is the grandest wager in history. We are hoping to make China a more responsible power. So far, all we have done is make it a more powerful one. We may not be creating the next Soviet Union, but we are nonetheless enabling a country that now considers us a foe. Today, China is the primary obstacle to disarming North Korea, is one of the main supporters of Iran's nuclear weapons program, is a friend of most every reprehensible regime on the planet, is the world's master proliferator of nuke technology, and is the only country that actively plans to kill Americans.
Our government seeks to engage China, which means that Washington is not willing to talk honestly about that country's behavior. Today, we overlook, ignore, and sugarcoat. . . . We are playing an enormously dangerous game, and we seldom talk about the risks.
One of President Bush's best ideas (IMO) is that we need to stop doing that. We support Democracy wherever it can be found. We disavow dictators wherever they may be. This is good -- morally good, of course, but also I think it is politically good.
The one exception (sigh) seems to be China. They are so big. They manufacture so much, so cheaply. We just don't want to declare them to be unacceptable.
I fear that we are making a mistake. We can look back at the Cold War and feel embarassment ("I can't believe we supported that guy!") but we're still doing it today.
It almost seems to be appeasement. I find it to be a horrible game.