Oil prices touch the most sensitive nerves of the global economy, also oil-related interests are one of the most important factors shaping the development of world strategic pattern.

If international news is about oil, words like "strategy" and "security" will jump out one after another. This is one of the reasons why the Western media pay so much attention to the bid of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) for Unocal.

There are, of course, other important reasons. Unocal is an old brand, ranking the ninth among American oil companies. However, it ran into heavy deficits in recent years, which made it a target of buy-up for quite some time.

However, what made it news is the emergence of CNOOC among buyers. For the Western media which focus on China for news, "oil plus China" is undoubtedly a major topic.

The bid, originally a commercial move by a Chinese company in line with international practice, has been painted with a thick layer of politics. From the reports in the west describing CNOOC's bid we can appreciate a common theme - the rise of China.

The news of CNOOC's bid, once broke out, did not immediately meet with understanding by some Americans. Some American experts expressed their worries while some American congressmen demanded a thorough investigation of the case -- such reactions give little cause for criticism, after all, oil is the product with the most strategic flavor.

What is alarming, however, is that some make a fuss out of it with hidden motives. They used a phrase like "energy war" that smacks of the smoke of gunpowder and said in a sensational tone that "it would help China monopolize oil supply and threaten America's security by damaging America's energy supplies and economy".

The fact is that CNOOC's bid, seemingly a new question, is essentially an old one, namely, how America views a rising China.

Renowned American scholar and expert on China issues Mr. David M. Lampton once said "when China entered the world market her comparative advantage compelled the US and other countries to think their own national strategies. It requires changes and changes are painful."

Since China's development is inevitable, things like CNOOC's bid are bound to happen sooner or later. For some people in Washington, that day perhaps comes a little bit too soon. They are still not ready for it.

Not long ago, US president George W. Bush used a phrase "very complicated" when talking about the China-US relations, saying that the two countries are rivals and, more importantly, are partners. However, He did not specify as for when and under what circumstances are the two rivals or partners. Perhaps it was hard to say. CNOOC's bid is just a testimony to this profound contradiction in the America's China policy.

As China rises, more and more companies like CNOOC have acquired the strength to go global. Washington will inevitably run into predicament whether it responds with the old trick of "containment plus contact", or adopts a strategy of seeking maximum gains while on active guard.

For example, as some people conceive it, the US should contain China as far as energy is concerned, which will of course bring a lot of trouble to China's development. If so, can America still maintain "contact" with China? And can it still maximally profit from China's rise? This is, as seen in CNOOC's bid, what is testing Washington.

This is an article carried on the front page of People's Daily Overseas Edition on June 28, and translated by People's Daily Online