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China–United States relations

The relationship between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the United States of America (USA) has been complex and at times contentious since the establishment of the PRC and the retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan in 1949. Since the normalization of relations in the 1970s, the US–China relationship has been marked by numerous perennial disputes including the political status of Taiwan, territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and more recently the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. They have significant economic ties and are significantly intertwined, yet they also have a global hegemonic great power rivalry. As of 2023, China and the United States are the world's second-largest and largest economies by nominal GDP, as well as the largest and second-largest economies by GDP (PPP) respectively. Collectively, they account for 44.2% of the global nominal GDP, and 34.7% of global PPP-adjusted GDP.

This article is about relations between the People's Republic of China and the United States. For relations between the Republic of China and the United States, see Taiwan–United States relations. For relations from before 1949, see History of China–United States relations.

One of the first major events between the United States and Chinese governments was the 1845 Treaty of Wangxia. Trade grew slowly, with talk of a giant buyers' market in China always making the rounds among American capitalists. In 1900, Washington joined the imperial powers of Europe and the Empire of Japan in sending troops to crush the anti-imperialist Boxer Rebellion. The Open Door Policy ostensibly opposed the subsequent carving up of China into spheres of influence among the victorious powers. Hopes that American financial power would be ascendant failed to materialize, as efforts during the Taft presidency to aid American banks invest in Chinese railways failed. President Franklin D. Roosevelt made support of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The US allied itself with the Republic of China (ROC), under which the Chinese Civil War had paused, with the ROC and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forming a unified front to fight the Japanese—after the Americans joined the war against Japan in 1941. After the end of World War II and the resumption of the civil war, the US tried and failed to negotiate a settlement between the Nationalists and Communists, with the latter eventually achieving victory, driving the Nationalist government into exile on Taiwan, and proclaiming the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. Relations between the US and the new Chinese government quickly soured. An early setpiece of the emerging global Cold War was the American-led United Nations intervention in the Korean War: China reacted by joining the war against the UN, sending millions of Chinese fighters to prevent a US presence on the Chinese border. For decades, the US refused to recognize the PRC as China's legitimate government, in favor of the ROC based in Taiwan, and as such blocked the PRC's membership in the United Nations. After the Sino-Soviet split, the winding down of America's war in Vietnam, as well as of the Cultural Revolution, US President Nixon's 1972 visit to China came as a shock to many observers, ultimately marking a sea change in US–China relations. On 1 January 1979, the US formally established diplomatic relations with the PRC, and recognized it as the sole legitimate government of China. However, it did not cease its military support for the ROC on Taiwan, working within the framework of the Taiwan Relations Act, with this issue continuing as a major point of contention between the two countries to the present day.


Every US president since Nixon has toured China, with the exception of Jimmy Carter. The Obama administration signed a record number of bilateral agreements with China, particularly regarding climate change, even as its East Asian pivot strategy strained relations. The advent of the Xi administration would prefigure a sharp downturn in these relations, which was then further entrenched upon the election of President Donald Trump, who had promised a combative stance towards China as a part of his campaign, which began to be implemented upon his taking office. Issues included China's militarization of the South China Sea, alleged manipulation of the Chinese currency, and Chinese espionage in the United States.[2][3][4] The Trump administration would label China a "strategic competitor" in 2017.[5][6] In January 2018, Trump launched a trade war with China, which the Chinese characterized as part of the unjustified containment strategy begun by the American pivot towards Asia. The United States government banned American companies from selling equipment to various Chinese companies linked to human rights abuses in Xinjiang, among them which included Chinese technology conglomerates Huawei and ZTE.[7][8][9] The US revoked preferential treatment towards Hong Kong after the passage of a broad-reaching security law in the city, increased visa restrictions on students from China,[10][11] and strengthened relations with Taiwan. In response, China adopted a so-called 'wolf warrior diplomacy', countering American accusations of human rights abuses.[12] By early 2018, various geopolitical observers had begun to speak of a new Cold War between the two powers.[13][14][15][16] On the last day of the Trump administration in January 2021, the US officially recognized the Chinese government's treatment of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang as a genocide.[17]


Following the election of Joe Biden in the 2020 United States presidential election, tensions between the two countries have continued to be strained. Biden prioritized competing with China as a priority in his foreign policy.[18][19] His administration imposed large-scale restrictions on the sale of semiconductor technology to China,[20] boosted regional alliances against China, and expanded support for Taiwan.[21][22] However, the Biden administration has also stated that the US seeks "competition, not conflict",[23] with Biden saying in late 2022 that "there need not be a new Cold War."[24]

History[edit]

Background & Chinese Civil War[edit]

The People's Republic of China was formed after the communist People's Liberation Army (PLA) won the Chinese Civil War against the Kuomintang nationalists (KMT). The defeated KMT fled to Taiwan, which they occupied under martial law until 1987, while the PLA secured control of mainland China.[25][26]


During the civil war, the communists petitioned the U.S. for support but were unsuccessful.[27][28] Instead, the U.S. offered both military and financial support to the KMT, under the hopes that a united, democratic, coalition government would be formed in China.[28]


The defeat of Japan in 1945 caused the U.S. to reevaluate their position in Asia. President Truman was worried that the collapse of the Japanese empire would cause a power vacuum which could be filled by the Soviet Union. However, the Soviet Union acted cautiously in the conflict, eventually withdrawing in May 1946, which left the U.S. feeling as though there was not a serious Soviet threat in the region.[27]


On 5 August 1949, the Truman administration released a white paper on relations with China.[29]: 80  Responding to domestic arguments about responsibility for the perceived loss of China to communism, Secretary of State Dean Acheson placed blame on Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government for losing the confidence of its military and the Chinese people and stated that the United States could not have prevented the outcome of the Chinese Civil War.[29]: 80  This position failed to satisfy domestic critics.[29]: 80  It also harmed the prospect of diplomacy with the communists, and outraged Mao Zedong, who wrote a series of articles criticizing the white paper.[29]: 80  Mao criticized the Truman administration for providing huge amounts of support to Nationalist forces which the administration deemed demoralized and unpopular, stating that the only rationale basis must have therefore been the Truman administration's imperialist ambitions and desire to hurt the Chinese people by needlessly prolonging the civil war.[29]: 80 


Amidst successive PRC victories, the U.S. ambassador to China John Leighton Stewart left China in August 1949.[30] Mao Zedong penned an article directly addressing the ambassador, entitled "Farewell, Leighton Stewart!", writing that his departure represented "the complete defeat of the U.S. policy of aggression" and was "worth celebrating".[31][32]


On 1 October 1949, the People's Republic of China was officially established.


Following the civil war, America only recognized the KMT-controlled Republic of China in Taiwan as a legitimate government, not the communist People's Republic of China. However, in 1979, the U.S. switched their allegiances, choosing to recognize the communist PRC as legitimate, cutting diplomatic ties with the KMT's Taiwan.[25][26]

US Import Valuation Overcounts China: there has been a shift of low-end assembly industries to mainland China from in East Asia and the Asia-Pacific. Mainland China has increasingly become the last link in a long chain of value-added production. Because US trade data attributes the full value of a product to the final assembler, mainland Chinese value added is overcounted. Using a statistical model that eliminates these global value chain-related distortions, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) researchers and World Trade Organization (WTO) researchers conclude that the United States' measures may overstate the value of Chinese exports by as much as 35%.[129]: 39  According to Pascal Lamy: "The statistical bias created by attributing commercial value to the last country of origin perverts the true economic dimension of the bilateral trade imbalances. This affects the political debate, and leads to misguided perceptions. Take the bilateral deficit between China and the US. A series of estimates based on true domestic content can cut the overall deficit – which was $252bn in November 2010 – by half, if not more."[320]

newly industrialized countries

US demand for labor-intensive goods exceeds domestic output: the PRC has restrictive trade practices in mainland China, which include a wide array of barriers to foreign goods and services, often aimed at protecting . These practices include high tariffs, lack of transparency, requiring firms to obtain special permission to import goods, inconsistent application of laws and regulations, and leveraging technology from foreign firms in return for market access. Mainland China's accession into the World Trade Organization is meant to help address these barriers.

state-owned enterprises

The undervaluation of the relative to the United States dollar.[321]

Renminbi

Make common efforts to stop climate change, limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees as defined in the Paris agreement.

Make the common efforts as at national so at the subnational level (cooperation between districts, cities in the 2 countries) including information exchange, dialog. The 2 countries will meet regularly for discussing the problem.

Activate a US-China climate group named "Working Group on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s" that will regularly coordinate those efforts.

Push for climate action at . Ensure climate finance to low income countries, including the long-awaited 100 billion dollars per year, increase 2 times adaptation finance and create new financial pledges in COP 29.

2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference

Reactivate the US-China Energy Efficiency Forum, for coordinate bilateral efforts on in the industry, buildings, transportation, equipment sectors, including cooling equipment.

energy conservation

Make efforts to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030, deploy it in the US and China replacing fossil fuels, so the emissions from energy sector will decline in the 2020s.

Reduce methane emissions and create immediately a special group dealing with this.

Manage emission and implement the Kigali Amendment to zero emissions from hydrofluorocarbons.

nitrous oxide

Support efforts to achieve and circular economy.

resource efficiency

End , fight Air pollution,

plastic pollution

Stop and reverse by 2030, including by stopping illegal imports.

deforestation

Create new, economy wide for the year 2035, with targets, compatible with the Paris Agreement goals.

NDC

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Chang, Gordon H. Fateful Ties: A History of America's Preoccupation with China. (Harvard UP, 2015).

excerpt

Cohen, Warren I. America's Response to China: A History of Sino-American Relations (5th ed. 2010)

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Dulles, Foster Rhea. China and America: The Story of Their Relations Since 1784 (1981), general survey

online

Fairbank, John King. The United States and China (4th ed. Harvard UP, 1976).

online

By more than providence: Grand strategy and American power in the Asia Pacific since 1783 (Columbia UP, 2017). online; 725pp; comprehensive scholarly survey.

Green, Michael J.

Hunt, Michael H. "Americans in the China Market: Economic Opportunities and Economic Nationalism, 1890s-1931." Business History Review 51.3 (1977): 277–307.

online

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online

Matray, James I. ed. East Asia and the United States: An Encyclopedia of relations since 1784 (2 vol. Greenwood, 2002).

excerpt v 2

Pomfret, John. The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: America and China, 1776 to the Present (2016)

review

Schaller, Michael. The United States and China: Into the Twenty-First Century 4th ed 2015)

Song, Yuwu, ed. Encyclopedia of Chinese-American Relations (McFarland, 2006)

Spence, Jonathan D. To Change China: Western Advisers in China (1980)

excerpt

Spence, Jonathan. "Western Perceptions of China from the Late Sixteenth Century to the Present" in Paul S. Ropp, ed.Heritage of China: Contemporary Perspectives on Chinese Civilization (1990)

excerpts

Sutter, Robert G. Historical Dictionary of United States-China Relations (2005).

Varg, Paul A. "Sino-American Relations Past and Present." Diplomatic History 4.2 (1980): 101–112.

online

Wang, Dong. The United States and China: A History from the Eighteenth Century to the Present (2013)

Westad, Odd Arne. Decisive encounters: the Chinese civil war, 1946-1950 (Stanford University Press, 2003).

excerpt