BEIJING: He labelled China a strategic competitor, swore to do whatever it took to defend its bitter rival, Taiwan, and pushed the island to buy huge caches of weapons to modernize and fend off a mainland threat.
So it might come as a surprise that China has a slight preference for President George W. Bush in his election race against Senator John Kerry, who appears to pursue a less bellicose Taiwan policy.
But diplomats and analysts say Beijing would like to see Bush returned to the Oval Office not out of affection for his policies, but for a far more practical reason: he is the incumbent and policymakers in Beijing are accustomed to him.
"It's pretty much the devil you know, and the devil you don't for them," said a Western diplomat. Not that China has made its viewpoint known. While Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly thrown his support behind Bush, Beijing has declined to endorse or even comment on campaign statements by either candidate, calling the presidential race an "internal affair" of the United States.
But China has grown used to Bush and four more years would make it easier for Beijing, which craves stability at home and abroad, to predict the shape of relations between the world's current superpower and its next one.
From Beijing's viewpoint, a second term for Bush would mean he no longer needs to campaign for re-election, making him less susceptible to political winds that often affect China policy.
FAMILIAR PATTERN: For China, US presidential races have developed a familiar ring - the challenger bashing the incumbent over his China policy on the campaign trail, only to retreat from the hard line after they are elected.
The sentiment arguably dates back to Richard Nixon, who spent years building his anti-Communist credentials only to "open" China in the 1970s, becoming the first US president to visit since the Communists swept to power in 1949.
The pattern established itself after the Tiananmen Square crackdown in June 1989 when China's military crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing, killing hundreds.
In 1992, Democratic challenger Bill Clinton criticized President George Bush, the current president's father, for "coddling dictators in Beijing" and sending envoys to China in the wake of the crackdown.
Once in office, Clinton continued in Bush's footsteps, renewing most favoured nation trading status for China and unhinging trade from the thorny issue human rights.
Despite tough talk on Taiwan and a crisis over a collision between a US spy plane and a Chinese fighter that soured relations in 2001, the younger Bush visited China twice, enlisted its support in the war on terror and warned Taiwan's president against upsetting the status quo.
This year, China has been less of a hot button campaign issue. From Taiwan to trade relations and North Korea's nuclear weapons programmes, Beijing sees a Kerry win as producing only marginal changes in relations.
"People tend to think there will be more trade disputes and disputes around human rights issues if John Kerry wins the election. Bush would be more tough on Taiwan," said Jin Canrong, an international relations professor at People's University. "But differences would be slight, and there are more sophisticated mechanisms now to resolve disputes between the two countries," he said.
SLIGHT DIFFERENCES: On the potential flash point of Taiwan, Kerry has pledged to support a peaceful resolution and maintain the US commitments to provide the island with defensive weapons.
The line is similar to that of Bush but without the "whatever it takes" rhetoric that raises hackles in Beijing. China regards the island as part of its territory that must eventually be reunified - by force if necessary.
"Kerry's policy towards Taiwan suits our taste better," said Gao Heng, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think tank.
And on the North Korea crisis, Kerry has called for direct talks between Washington and Pyongyang, a move Bush has charged would undermine the six-party talks that have evolved into something of a showcase for China's budding diplomacy. -Reuters
