Editorial
War on terrorism needs Russia, China

Of all the nations America needs to join its global coalition against terrorism, few may prove more important strategically to the success of this new war than one that George Bush has seemed prone to ignore and another that he has at times treated like a future enemy: Russia and China.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered support for military operations by the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov vowed Wednesday to work with NATO defense ministers to fight terrorism.

Russia has signaled that the United States may get to use military facilities in Tajikistan to launch strikes. Tajikistan is one of five Central Asian republics once part of the Soviet Union and still under Russia's sphere of influence. This comes amid reports U.S. planes may have already landed in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

This is the same Russia, recall, that Bush was vexing with his insistence on ballistic missile defense, scrapping the ABM treaty and NATO enlargement.

China, meanwhile, has been the focus of a faction within the Bush administration that regards it as a future enemy. The faction has advocated strategic moves to constrain and isolate China.

Most mainstream foreign policy specialists sharply disagree, believing that integration of Chinese economy and society into a globalized world is the best way to assure a happy outcome.

But it now appears that China may have the best store of intelligence information to help the United States develop a long-range, effective strategy for dealing with the Muslim-influenced world of the "seven Stans" — from Pakistan and Afghanistan to Kyrgistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Now the United States has a terrorist enemy that has committed horrific crimes against humanity on U.S. soil. America needs the help of Russia and China.

The most delicate problem for the Bush administration will be to handle the expectations of Russia and China for joining the war on terrorism. What, they will wonder, is in it for us?

The United States has denounced Russia's suppression of the Chechens and China's suppression of the Tibetans and Muslim minorities. But the Chechens and Chinese Muslims have turned to terror tactics on occasion, leading Beijing and Moscow to hope for endorsement and internal help from Bush's terrorism war.

Bush has said the war will be confined to terrorist movements with "a global reach," apparently excluding the Chinese and Chechen problems. But Bush will have to find a way to finesse the expectations of Beijing and Moscow if he plans to sign them on as full-fledged participants in his global coalition.