What Americans want…..not so important. What China wants……very important.

By Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writer

One of China’s top government officials reached out to the leading U.S. presidential contenders last week, holding an unpublicized meeting with several of their top foreign policy advisers during a visit to Washington for high-level talks with Bush administration officials.

Among those present for the dinner with Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo on June 19, according to people familiar with the encounter, were top advisers to Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), former senator John Edwards (D-N.C.), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R).

The meeting underscored the intense interest in the U.S. presidential campaign among foreign leaders, particularly in China, which has historically been uneasy about transitions in the White House. China is especially nervous about rising complaints from U.S. politicians over the handling of its economy, as well as criticism of its role in protecting the Sudanese government from international sanctions for its role in the atrocities in Darfur.

“The Chinese are trying to figure out how to affect domestic U.S. politics,” said Michael J. Green, a former adviser on Asia to President Bush. “They know that changes in U.S. government lead to different China policies that are uncomfortable for them.”

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