At the end of the 20th Century, the focus of global attention and concern is on the future relationship between the world's most influential nation and its most populous one. The series of high-level meetings and the exchange of unusually long summit visits that occupied the center of the world stage in the late 1990s reveal that both sides recognize the other's global importance. In the words of President Bill Clinton, "the role China chooses to play will powerfully shape the next century."

The years 1997 and 1998 will be remembered by many for the critically...