This course examines the long and curious relationship between the United States and China. The focus will be on the period after 1949, when the People’s Republic of China was proclaimed. Washington continued to recognize the Republic of China on Taiwan until the late 1970s, when the U.S. formed a virtual alliance with mainland China against the Soviet Union. The end of the Cold War eroded the basis of that relationship. And the Tiananmen Square military crackdown brought to the fore the human rights situation in China, leading to an annual debate in Congress as to whether China’s most-favored-nation trading status should be renewed. Subsequently, incidents such as the American bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999 and the EP-3 collision incident of April 2001 precipitated crises in the relationship. However, the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States provided a new rationale for the strategic Washington-Beijing relationship. In recent years, however, economic issues have increasingly come to the fore and beset the bilateral relationship. What lies in the future, as the U.S. faces a rising China? How has the relationship fared under President Barack Obama?

Lesson One: (17 Jan 2013)

Orientation. What do students expect from the course? How much understanding do they have of the history and background of the U.S.-China relationship? What aspects are they especially interested in?

Readings: 

• Warren I. Cohen, “America’s Response to China,” Chapters 2, pp. 26-54.

Lesson Two: (24 Jan 2013)

We will do an overview of US-China relations up to the Second World War.

Readings: 

• “United States relations with China, The China White Paper, Volume I,” pages 28-58 and 311-359.

Lesson Three: The U.S. and the Chinese Civil War (1946-49) (31 Jan 2013)

Today we will discuss the Second World War, when China and the U.S. were allies, and its aftermath, when China was torn by a civil war in which the U.S. attempted to mediate. The KMT was defeated and driven into exile in Taiwan, while the People’s Republic of China was proclaimed in 1949. The U.S. was initially resigned to accepting the conquest of Taiwan by the Chinese Communists but, after the eruption of the Korean War, President Truman decided to defend Taiwan to prevent a communist sweep across Asia.

Readings:

• “Crisis and Commitment: United States Policy toward Taiwan 1950-1955,” by Robert Accinelli, University of North Carolina Press, 1996, pp. 5-17, 80-89;
• “Useful Adversaries: Grand Strategy, Domestic Mobilization and Sino-American Conflict, 1947-1958,” by Thomas J. Christensen, 1996, chapter 4, “Absent at the Creation: Acheson’s Decision to Forgo Relations with the Chinese Communists,” pp. 77-137
• “China Crosses the Yalu,” by Allen S. Whiting, pp. 42-53

Lesson Four: U.S. Dilemma: Communists or Chiang? (7 Feb 2013)

The Taiwan Strait crises of 1954 and 1958. The U.S. signs a mutual security agreement with the Republic of China on Taiwan and recognizes it as the sole legal government of all China, including the mainland. In the mean time, it holds talks with the Chinese Communist government in ambassadorial-level talks in Warsaw. This state of affairs continues until 1971, when Henry Kissinger paid a secret visit to Beijing.

Readings:

• “The Sino-American Alliance,” John W. Garver, pp. 220-224, 248-262.
• “Negotiating with the Chinese Communists: The United States Experience, 1953-1967,” by Kenneth T. Young, McGraw-Hill, 1968, pp. 65-71, 163-198;
• “Mao’s China and the Cold War,” by Chen Jian, pp. 38-49. Chapel Hill. 2001.

Lesson Five: The Nixon Breakthrough (21 Feb 2013)

President Nixon makes history by going to China and signing the Shanghai Communique with Premier Zhou Enlai in 1972. By 1979, the U.S. reverses its position on China, signing a second communique normalizing relations and recognizing Beijing as the legal government while breaking off relations with the ROC on Taiwan. However, it insists on continuing to sell arms to Taiwan to help the island defend itself. Reluctantly, Deng Xiaoping agrees. But in 1982 China and the U.S. sign a third communique under which the U.S. agrees to gradually reduce both qualitatively and quantitatively the sale of arms to Taiwan.

Readings:

• The Sino-Soviet Conflict 1956-1961, ed. Donald S. Zagoria, Chapter 7 “Khrushchev and the Taiwan Strait Crisis,” pp. 200-216;
• Henry Kissinger, “The White House Years,” pp. 770-774.
• Henry Kissinger, “The White House Years,” pp. 774-787.
• Alan D. Romberg, “Rein In at the Brink of the Precipice,” pp. 49-75.

Lesson Six: U.S., China and the Soviet Union; Trade grows (28 Feb 2013)

Throughout the seventies and eighties, the U.S. and China coordinate their moves vis-a-vis the Soviet Union. In the mean time, trade between the two countries, which was significant only in a symbolic, political sense in the early days, begins to take off and assumes an importance of its own.

Readings:

• Romberg, pp. 49-75.
• James Mann, “About Face,” pp. 226-245;
• Patrick Tyler, “A Great Wall,” pp. 383-416.

Lesson Seven: Tiananmen Square, 1989 (7 Mar 2013)

Tiananmen Square. The weeks of massive protest by pro-democracy students in the middle of Beijing culminated in the dispatch of PLA tanks and troops. Many Americans identified with the student movement and were horrified to see troops battling unarmed demonstrators. This marks a turning point in the relationship. The end of the Cold War also undermines the raison d’etre of the relationship. Congress becomes increasingly assertive where China policy is concerned.

Readings:

• Tyler, “A Great Wall,” pp. 414-416.
• Harry Harding, “A Fragile Relationship: The United States and China since 1972,” pp. 215-246.

Lesson Eight: U.S. precipitates crisis by giving Lee visa (14 Mar 2013)

Clinton links most-favored-nation trading status to human rights in his first year as president, but backs down after that. Under pressure by Congress, he agrees to give Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui a visa so he can go to Cornell, where Lee earned his doctorate in agricultural economics. This precipitates a huge protest by China and leads to missile tests in the Taiwan Strait in 1995 and military exercises the following year, coinciding with Taiwan’s first direct presidential elections. Clinton sends two aircraft carrier groups into vicinity of Taiwan and the U.S. and China glower at each other while standing on the brink of war.

Readings:

• David M. Lampton. Same Bed, Different Dreams: Managing U.S.-China Relations, 1989-2000. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. pp. 99-110.

Lesson Nine: Embassy Bombing and “2 States Theory” (21 Mar 2013)

The American bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, which Washington claimed was accidental, precipitates another crisis in 1999. The bombing triggers off anti-American riots in Beijing. Other events that strained the relationship during that period were the Cox report, accusing China of spying and theft of U.S. secrets, the arrest and trial of Wen Ho Lee and Lee Teng-hui’s “two states theory.” On the positive side of the ledger was agreement on China’s membership in the World Trade Organization.

Readings:

• Alan D. Romberg, “Rein In at the Brink of the Precipice,” pp. 194-216.

Lesson Ten: The George W. Bush Presidency (28 Mar 2013)

Ten weeks after George W. Bush assumed the presidency, a collision between a Chinese military jet and a U.S. intelligence gathering EP3 plane precipitated another crisis in the relationship. China insisted on an American apology and detained the American crew on Hainan, an act which in the U.S. was seen as hostage taking. The second Bush administration had assumed office determined to take a stronger stance against China and in favor of Taiwan. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, members of the Bush administration saw China as the next enemy.

Readings:

• “China’s Anti-Satellite Weapon Test”

Lesson Eleven: War on Terror and the Impact on China (11 April 2013)

The September 11 terrorist attack on the United States changed the course of history and forced Washington to focus on terrorism rather than on China. In China, Jiang Zemin gave up the position of party leader to Hu Jintao in 2002 and of president in 2003, but retained the position of chairman of the Central Military Commission until 2004 in the first peaceful transition of power in recent Chinese history.

Readings:

• “China and its President Greeted by a Host of Indignities,” Washington Post
• “The National Security Strategy of the United States of America”

Lesson Twelve: China’s Changing Role in the World (18 Apr 2013)

The post-911 relationship between the two countries improved greatly, with China cooperating with the U.S. in the war on terror. China did not protest as the U.S. moved into Afghanistan and other countries on China’s periphery. On the North Korean nuclear issue, China began to play an increasingly pivotal role, hosting first three party and later six party talks. What does the future hold?

Readings:

• Puts & Calls: Concerns Over U.S.-China Trade Deficit Are Overblown
• Rand Corporation commentary by Julia F. Lowell, October 2005
• A China Policy in America’s Interest by Daniel T. Griswold September 16, 2005

Lesson Thirteen: The Obama administration and U.S.-China Security/Economic Issues (25 Apr 2013)

The global financial crisis has captured the attention of leaders around the world, including in Washington and Beijing. To what extent was this precipitated by the trade imbalance, with China having enjoyed a huge trade surplus for many years? Is China responsible for America’s economic ills? With the Democrats now in control of both the White House and the Congress, the forces of protectionism in the U.S. are gaining strength. But the U.S. knows that it needs Chinese cooperation on a slew of major issues, ranging from North Korea to Iran to global warming and climate change.

• Class Participation (20%)
• Tutorials (25%)
• Book Review (25%)
• Final Paper (30%)

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