I am currently an English teacher in southern China. Over the course of a year, I have learned some things about these people. Sometimes you have to play good cop-bad cop with them. That is precisely what Dubya is doing here. After the spy plane collision in 2001, the Chinese snivelers demanded an apology. Dubya told them to go jump in the Yangtze. Likewise, he said the USA would do everything necessary to protect Taiwan. Now, he is taking a more conciliatory tone. Without a doubt, he will take another "bad cop" stance in the future, given the nature of the Satanic regime that controls the 1.3 billion people here.
Ronald Reagan viewed the Soviet Union as the Evil Empire, yet even he was sometimes willing to take the "good cop" position when it was expedient to do so. I'm sure he cordially shook hands with Gorbachev shortly before he walked out of the 1986 conference in Iceland. Politics sometimes dictate that you swallow your enmity for a few minutes to engage in basic pleasantries. That's the only reason the Beltway is more civilized than the West Bank. Don't assume that Dubya is suddenly an aficionado of Mao & Company.
,,, like DHL says, "whatever it takes."
China is keen on the influx of $US; the US is keen on ushering out Communism - plain enough. Taiwan and North Korea will be the litmus tests of where China wants to be.