For once, I agree with Harry Reid. In a letter to President Bush, the Senate minority leader wrote Monday, “More than five years into your presidency, your Administration regrettably still has no coherent strategy for managing this nation’s relationship with China.”

With the Chinese Communist Party secretary general, Hu Jintao, finally visiting the White House today, Mr. Reid undoubtedly was using the occasion as another excuse to criticize Mr. Bush. The Democrats, in fact, don’t enjoy any moral high ground at all when it comes to dealing with China. The China policy under a Democratic administration would be more coherent for sure – it would be consistently worse than what we have now, as exemplified clearly by President Clinton.

But that doesn’t obstruct the truthfulness of Mr. Reid’s attack. Mr. Reid urged Mr. Bush “to make clear to President Hu that your Administration will no longer accept ‘get tough’ rhetoric and occasional press release progress instead of strict compliance by China with global rules.”

Mr. Reid referenced the talk of democracy and human rights in Mr. Bush’s second inaugural. “It is time to restore the priority of these goals in U.S. policy towards China,” Mr. Reid wrote. I can’t agree with him more.

I do believe the Bush Administration is sincere and serious when it said, in the National Security Strategy issued in March, that, “It is the policy of the United States to seek and support democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.” This president, after all, has put his presidency at stake by doing what he believes is good for America and the world – invading Iraq and removing a grave threat in the Middle East.

However, a problem with the document lies here: “Though our principles are consistent, our tactics will vary.” In some case, Washington will take vocal and visible steps on behalf of immediate change. In other cases, Washington will lend more quiet support to lay the foundation for future reforms. China obviously falls into the latter category.

The fundamental tone of the current China policy was laid down publicly by Robert Zoellick, deputy secretary of state, in a speech delivered in New York last September. He called for urging China to become “a responsible stakeholder” in the international system. “As a responsible stakeholder, China would be more than just a member – it would work with us to sustain the international system that has enabled its success,” he said. Good luck.

“Beijing’s behavior in the international arena has moved too far in the wrong direction for anyone to say that China will ever act as a responsible stakeholder without considerable pressure,” a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, John Tkacik, wrote. Iran probably is the best case at point. China keeps saying it prefers diplomatic means to deal with Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. But as one of the Permanent Five at the United Nation Security Council, China at the same time has been blocking a diplomatic effort to solve the crisis. Unless Chinese leaders believe that their policies will bring serious consequences, they will have no incentive to moderate them.

The Bush administration, probably sensing all the stakeholder talk hasn’t made China a drop more responsible, has recently, to its credit, added another element to the mix – hedging. The Pentagon’s Quadrennial Defense Review, released last February, says the U.S. must “hedge against the possibility that a major or emerging power could choose a hostile path in the future.” And China, interestingly, was cited as an emerging power. The National Security Strategy also states that “Our strategy seeks to encourage China to make the right strategic choices for its people, while we hedge against other possibilities.”

This is certainly a welcome improvement. But this policy can be even better if the two elements can be switched the other way around. In other words, instead of emphasizing encouraging China to become a responsible stakeholder and doing some hedging on the side, the U.S. should hedge against China first and then try to change it to a stakeholder. All signs are pointing to the fact that China is becoming an enemy. It is not strong enough yet to pose immediate dangers to America at this point, perhaps, but it will only gain more power as time goes by. America should plan its policies based on this fundamental understanding. Since no one wants to have a shooting war with China, and serious efforts should be put into avoiding one, Washington therefore at the same time should also try to encourage China to become a responsible stakeholder. But the priority should be crystal clear – treat China as an adversary first and then try to change it into a friend later.

Otherwise, the current strategy is contradictory. Washington is helping to create a stronger China to hedge against. Nothing is more self-defeating than this.

Hedge first, friends later. This is what Mr. Bush should bear in mind when meeting with Mr. Hu today.

Mr. Liu is a former Washington-based columnist of Hong Kong’s Apple Daily.