George Bush is a Rubik’s Cube. That is not to say that he is a maneuverable square, nor that he is brightly colored. The sentiment that this article’s earlier rash statement was trying to convey was the idea that no one knows exactly how to figure this young Bush out. He is truly a riddle wrapped inside a conundrum if such a thing can exist.

He handles each new situation with a seemingly new approach. And perhaps for that very reason he is constantly second-guessed. He has not yet perfected a little thing that a buddy of mine on the playground once called styyyyyyyle. Sure, his hair is trimmed and parted in a nice and neat fashion.

His sweaters and his ties are very handsome; anyone would be lucky to wear them. Indeed there certainly are some who which would call George Bush II a pretty man. But that is neither here nor there.

What is currently under discussion, if you want to call my lecturing you a discussion (you silly reader!), is the idea that Bush has not yet asserted himself as a great statesman, or an excellent diplomat. He has not yet found his niche within the Oval Office, possibly because by virtue of being oval, the office contains no niches. He is still wet behind the ears, whatever the hell that means.

And so we come to the latest crisis handled by our not-yet-so-esteemed leader of the free world: China. And not the kind your mother used to tell you to be very careful with, although she probably should have.

Much like two antelope dueling for an antelopette on the open prairie, China is again butting heads with the United States in what can only be called a test of wills.

A US surveillance plane collided with a Chinese fighter plane somewhere near China. The US plane and her crew of twenty-four called mayday and landed at a Chinese airbase. Meanwhile, the Chinese pilot was not so lucky, and is reportedly dead.

Now both sides are hotter than the backside of a rented mule. The idea that those ramblings are supposed to convey is that China and the US are not happy with one another.

China demanded an apology and said that neither the crew nor the plane would be returned to the US until such action was taken. Bush in response said that no apology would be given, and that the crew and plane must be returned immediately.

According to one inaccurate and possibly fictitious source, Bush also reportedly closed those remarks with the phrase "so put that in your pipe and smoke it," however that could have just been the source’s mind wandering to his plans for the evening.

Instead, the Bush administration issued, through Secretary of State Colin Powell, what could only be called a reserved response in acknowledging the tragedy and expressing "regret that the Chinese plane did not get down safely," but at no point apologizing. "The US doesn’t understand the reasons for an apology," concluded White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

Perhaps the reason that China expects an apology stems from the fact that US Presidents dating back to Nixon have set a precedent of coddling and fondling Chinese officials. The reasons that the US has not taken a tougher stance against the Chinese have changed dramatically, but the behavior has not.

During the Cold War, China was believed to be a possible way to balance the power of the Soviet Union. China was seen as a counterweight against the Soviets.

However, when the Cold War ended, the United States’ reasons for treating China nicely changed dramatically. With China slowly emerging as the only power capable of rivaling the US, the United States has become wary of angering such a powerful country. But Bush has no such wariness. And he has not caved to China’s demands where perhaps his predecessors would have.

Is Bush’s hard stance going to lead to World War III? Probably not. It’s one of George W.’s classic calculated risks.

The more appropriate question may well be, how will China respond? Someone is going to have to give a little ground here, and Bush seems determined to make sure that that land is coming the US’s way.

Bush has not inflated his rhetoric, nor made outrageous demands. He has just taken a tough stance and stuck to it, as seemingly the leader of the most powerful country in the world should do.

The Chinese want the United States to "take full responsibility" for what happened, and the United States seems to be trying to show that those days of acquiescence to China are over.

Bush should be applauded for his determination to return the United States to a position where everyone will run in terror when they hear it stomping down the hall. Whether proud China will cower under its bed crying still seems to be a question mark, though.

This apparent stalemate between the new Bush administration and China could set the tone for interactions between the two for the rest of Bush’s term as well as for years to come.

Those future interactions could be end up being US-dominated, as Bush does not seem to be showing any intentions of backing down, and why should he?