What if you could prepare for a state visit in Washington that boosts your public image while at the same time humiliating your rival and intimidating your neighbors?

If you are Chinese President Hu Jintao, who plans to visit President Obama in Washington next week, you can have all these things and pay no price. While Secretary of Defense Gates is in China to beg his counterparts to resume military ties, his guests tested a new stealthy aircraft – the J20. Washington’s response was to play down the test so as not to ruin the upcoming presidential summit. Some in the administration have gone even further, arguing that Hu, president of China and head of the most powerful party in the world, does not control his military. That line of argument does not exactly soothe. (A rogue PLA equipped with advanced weaponry? How comforting.) It is also highly implausible.