he Barack Obama administration's policy of "strategic reassurance" vis-a-vis China appears to be yielding its first fruits - the profoundly unreassuring image of President Hu Jintao clasping Kim Jong-il's hand in Changchun and, very probably, heralding the survival of the sclerotic North Korean regime into its third generation. This denouement should not have been unexpected as a riposte to the joint United States-South Korean strategy of responding to the Cheonan sinking in March with heightened rhetoric, referral of the issue to the United Nations, and a show of military force in Northeast Asian waters - all designed to challenge China's role as acknowledged stakeholder in matters of the peninsula. . . . The Obama administration has a remarkable tin ear when it comes to China policy. Its norms-based foreign policy strategy . . . offers little opportunity for productive engagement. . . .