Hu is President Bush's daddy when it comes to diplomacy? Chinese President Hu Jintao recently completed a "tour de Africa" that exemplified Chinese international relations — reaching out to the developing world by giving massive aid for infrastructure development with no expectation of reform or fair distribution of revenues to impoverished peoples.

This influence peddling — while at best amoral and at worst ethically reprehensible — is nonetheless rapidly elevating China's prominence in the world. Coupled with George W. Bush's general disdain for international relations, this new trend will prove problematic for the United States as China continues its inevitable rise to superpower status — especially as Chinese activities center on resource-rich states.

For instance, columnist Moisés Na�