Before U.S. Poll, China Criticizes 'Bush Doctrine'
Sun Oct 31, 2004 08:39 PM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - On the eve of the U.S. election, China criticized the "Bush doctrine" of pre-emptive strikes, said the Iraq war has destroyed the global anti-terror coalition and blamed arrogance for problems dogging the United States around the world.

In a strongly worded commentary, Qian Qichen, one of the main architects of China's foreign policy, said the United States was dreaming if it thought the 21st century was the "American century."

"The Iraq war has ... destroyed the hard-won global anti-terror coalition," Qian said in the article in the English-language China Daily newspaper.

"(It) has made the United States even more unpopular in the international community than its war in Vietnam ... The 21st century is not the 'American century'. That does not mean that the United States does not want the dream. Rather it is incapable of realizing the goal."