U.S.-China Relations

• Institutions• Ideologies• Interests

Maoist Era (1949 - 1976)

• Main foreign policy makers– Mao Zedong (CCP and PRC Chairman)– Zhou Enlai (Premier and Foreign Minister)

Cold War

• Alliance with Soviet Union in 1950s– Mao Zedong: ``lean on one side”

• Alliance with ``Third World” in 1960s– Replaced ROC in United Nations in 1971

• Normalize with United States in 1970s• Alliance with United States in 1980s

Break the Ice in 1970s

• PRC-USA adversary in 1950s and 1960s• Growing threat from Soviet Union• Mao said to Edgar Snow in 1970: ``If

Nixon would come I’ll talk with him”• ``Ping-pong diplomacy” in 1971

Nixon in China (1972)

Ford in China (1975)

Deng Xiaoping’s Strategies

• One Focus– economic modernization

• Two themes: ``peace and development”– relatively peaceful world is favorable for

domestic economic construction– trade, investment, and economic cooperation

Diplomatic Relation (1979)

• 1978-12-16: ``Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America"

• 1979-01-01: P.R. China and the U.S. formally established diplomatic relations at ambassadorial level

Deng Xiaoping visits US

Post-Cold War

• PRC perceives a world with ``only one superpower but many great powers”

• PRC’s principal national interest defined as economic modernization

• PRC diplomacy seeks to maintain conditions conducive to continued economic growth

PRC Strategies since 1996

• Reassure neighbors that China’s development doesn’t pose threat but offers opportunities

• Partner (but not ally) with major powers (U.S., Russia, European Union, Japan, etc.)

Great Power Partnerships

• Stable relations w/o targeting 3rd party• Promote extensive economic relations• Downplay disagreements on domestic

issues in the interest of working together on matters of shared concern

• Routine official visits, especially military exchange & summit meetings

Cooperative Partnership

• “Constructive strategic partnership”(1997)• Cooperative working relationship

– trade and investment– UN security council– export controls of military technology– fight against international terrorism– contain tensions in Korea and South Asia

Taiwan Issue

• Most sensitive issue in PRC-US relations• 3 US-PRC Joint Communiqués

– 1972, 1978, and 1982• Taiwan Relations Act (1979)• Visits to US by high officials from Taiwan

– Does it violate 1978 Communiqué?• Arms sale to Taiwan

– Does it violate 1982 Communiqué?

1972-02-28 Communiqué

• The U.S. side declared: The United States acknowledges– that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan

Strait maintain there is but one China– that Taiwan is a part of China

1978-12-16 Communiqué

• Reaffirm the principles agreed on by the two sides in the Shanghai Communiqué

• US recognizes the Government of the PRC as the sole legal Government of China.

1978-12-16 Communiqué

• Within this context, the people of the United States will maintain cultural, commercial, and other unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan

Diplomatic Relation (1979)

• The U.S. announced– the severance of its diplomatic ties with the

Republic of China (Taiwan)– the withdrawal of its troops from Taiwan– the ceasing of the U.S.-R.O.C. Joint Defense

Treaty

• within 1979

1982-08-17 Communiqué

• P.R.C-U.S. Communiqué: U.S.– does not seek to carry out a long-term policy

of arms sales to Taiwan– arms sales to Taiwan will not exceed the level

of those supplied in recent years– intends gradually to reduce its sale of arms to

Taiwan, leading, over a period of time, to a final resolution

Tests of the Partnership

• US bombed PRC embassy in Belgrade in 1999

• Mid-air collision of US and Chinese military planes in 2001

• Human rights in China– Political dissidents– Religious freedom