China emerged as the key trading partner for US post the Deng era. It prospered on cheap exports to US, building its economic prowess silently while US fervently hoped of an emergent middle class in China which would make China democratic and brings it in the ambit of the USA - the great purveyor of democracy in the world. Tiananmen happened and nothing changed.
90s did saw the Taiwan strait issue which ended with US apologies and its reiteration of One China and non-interference in recognizing Taiwan. But that was an opportunity for US to weigh further on China. It did discover that its biggest trading partner had fangs and can hiss towards its biggest trading partner. But then, the far east never became a priority for the US.
Though in 2001, the Hainan incident happened in which a surveillance aircraft of US made an unscheduled landing in Hainan due to midair collision with a Chinese military plane. This also led to the death of a pilot. Chinese suspecting US foul play in Taiwanese strait and seeing this as a deliberate interference in the Chinese regional sphere responded with an aggressive diplomatic posture and detained and interrogated the US personnel for 20 odd days.
Though the situation did get diffused again by US apology, it again failed to notice the rising Chinese assertion. Since this happened in April 2001 and then September 11 happened the same year, the US establishment did not have time to truly analyze and digest what China was really up to. For next 15 years US got caught up in Afghanistan while China grew in silence. The US economy continued to get entrenched in China more and more.
If US did realize these signals, would it have revamped its economic strategy? Was the war on terror a distraction and drain for US, while China became powerful? We may never know. But with benefit of hindsight, we can tell that 2001 was the point when US should have truly realized what monster China can become and should have made a major revamp of its defense, technology and trade strategy. The Bald eagle with the claw now has a full-grown fire spewing dragon to contend with.
