An unexpected side-effect of the war in Iraq was to ease China's integration into the global mainstream. The US-led war triggered an anti-war 'entente active' of four major powers: France, Germany, Russia and China. For the first time in history, no major geopolitical conflict divides the powers of the Eurasian mainland. Three new strategic links have arisen - the Sino-Russian strategic partnership; the EU 'Common Strategy towards Russia'; and what the EU and China are explicitly describing as 'strategic' cooperation - built with transparency, little fanfare and no declared common enemy. These developments will undermine the unipolar world that the United States is attempting to construct. At the same time, and quite remarkably, China is being drawn into a continental orientation. After years of hesitation, China's grand strategy of 'peaceful rise' has potential to be fulfilled on the Eurasian continent.