China — USA Relations in the New Global Structure

China has finally become a member of international economic system. This place of China in world affairs presents a challenge to the dominant theories in western studies of foreign policy and international relations. Globalization has been greatly debated in China in recent years.

Although China has become a full-fledge player in world affairs, its relationship with US, have undergone many ups and downs since the end of Cold War. China’s policy towards US is now having mature ties for a peaceful environment to sustain economic growth and social process. China has been developing a long term strategy based on some fundamental assumptions.

A more recent assessment stresses domestic reform and balanced development as top priorities of China. This helps China to build partnerships with other great powers and strengthening crises management capabilities. China’s politics has changed in twenty years from Totalitarianism to Mao Zedong’s (1949–1978) authoritarianism to analyze strength and weaknesses of Chinese political system some of major features have been classifies in prospects of Chinese political system.

The relation of red China with USA hot strained from the very beginning because the Americans openly supported Chiang Kai Shek against communists even after communists captured power. American leaders continued to say in public that communist regime was a temporary one and soon would be replaced by the nationalist forces from Taiwan. USA tried to build up a network of military basis around China, extending from Japan to Pakistan to cut her off from the rest of the world.

Politically China is communist country and America is politically democratic. America refused to extend diplomatic recognitions to the new regime and continued to refuse the proposal for the permanent seat for People’s Republic of China in UN. This hostility between the two countries persisted for over twenty years. In 1972 when Nixon paid visit to China, he marked the beginning of détente between China and US and various trade and cultural agreements were concluded in the wake of improvement of relations with China. Both the countries sought on enduring institutional framework in the economic, cultural, and scientific and trade areas in 1980. China and USA planned to conclude civil aviation, maritime and textile agreements and expansion in commercial and scientific relations particularly through Exim Bank credits to the PRC. As a result in 1983 the two countries concluded the five year agreement by which China accepted the growth rate of textile exports of USA of 2–3 percent year, which is some what highest then the rates allocated to other East Asian exporters. A further bid to improve relations was made by the two countries when president Reagan of USA paid a fourteen day visit to China in April- May 1984 and concluded number of agreements for greater cooperation in the economic and scientific fields.

Relation between China and USA began to deteriorate due to USA stand on Taiwan while improving relations with China. USA had assured the Chinese leaders that it would severe official ties with Taiwan and maintain only informal economic and security relations. USA also promised not to upgrade Taiwan’s military technology so long as there were no risks of China-Taiwan war. As a result of this China withdrew most of its armed forces on its border with Taiwan. However President Reagan proposed to upgrade Taiwan’s air force. This evoked strong reactions from China. The other causes of irritation to China were grant of permission to Taiwan to open another office in USA and the presence of US security advisor, at the national day celebration of Taiwan. Yet other factor of irritation was that China demanded for expulsion of Taiwan from the Asian Development Bank and USA insistence on dual membership.

USA then agreed to sell two air tanks and hawk anti craft missiles to China. It also agreed to provide AVOINICS to up grade China’s F8 interceptor. Despite these developments China was unhappy with USA on account of its decision to supply arms to Taiwan. On US decision to sell F16 fighter aircraft to Taiwan, China immediately retaliated by announcing that it would not attend the UN security council permanent members meeting on arms control because this arms transfer amounted to interference in the internal affairs of China. However, in May 1994 President Clinton decided to once again extend most favored nation (MFN) to China viewing China as world’s emerging and world’s fastest growing economy and large investment made by the American business cooperation there.

Through officials protocols, agreements and thousands of institutional and individual agreements, Chinese and US societies are now linked in an elaborate network research and training in scientific and technological fields flourish under the umbrella of more than thirty governmental science and technological protocols. An improvement in China’s relations with US started after the cultural revolution of 1966–69.

Coming to 1960s decade of China, when China emerged from the great leap disaster 1962, it helped to shape a very different world its relations with Moscow and Washington were almost totally hostile not only had it lost the Soviet defense connection trade with the USSR was also down hill and Soviet technology transfer to China was declining rapidly. The decade of the 1960s do not seem to be like a propitious time for improving China second world ties. Important needs dictated this change.

First, the need of large scale food imports sent china into international grain markets, which was dominated by the US, Canada and Australia. US grains was out of the question in 1960s so a simply demand and supply situation led China to make huge purchases from both Canada and Australia trade that has proposed from 1961 to the present. In stormy 1966 no less than 44% of China’s trade was already with second world. Two decades later in the calm days of 1986 it was 45% and sixth of Beijing’s trade partners were second world states (Japan, West Germany, Britain, Australia, Italy and Canada).

Let’s now have a brief look on Maoist and Post Mao conceptualization of world capitalism. The history of China’s dealing with the outside world, the long struggle for national independence led to the success of communist revolution in 1940. It grew more dependent on the Soviet Union, a nation whose interest had often conflicted with China. War in Korea cut the political ground under its domestic adversaries more closely tied to Stalin, won great soviet military aid for a week. But the embargo made possible for China to access to the capitalist world market and diverted much of China’s butter to buy guns.

Mao understood market access. During China’s revolutionary civil war, policies to check exploitative merchants hurt villagers, thus the policies were called off. Mao involved himself with scarce goods: kerosene salt and medicine survival and success required learning to defeat embargoes and blockade and benefit from expanded exchange relations.

In 1952 after china entered the Korean War Stalin did better in improving plants for China and Nakita Khrushchev in 1954 was positively decent in giving aid to the pressures on Khrushchev to respond to US military superiority to do better by Soviet consumers, to compensate for Stalin’s plunder of Eastern Europe and to compete with US in the third world made China a lesser economic priority. When Khrushchev returned to China in 1958 with attractive trade and technical agreements, it was too late. Mao seeing himself as heir to Stalin made China to do rapid development of nuclear weapons. Militarily and economically Mao steered the Chinese shop of state away from the Soviet pattern of the state investment. Relatively more had to be done for agriculture and light industry. China began negotiations with US in Geneva. China sought long term trade with Japan coal; iron Ore of steel and agriculture machinery. At the ban dung conference China reached out to other weak and poor nations and condemned imperialism in all its forms. This approach maximizing China’s opportunities for trade and development, clash with Soviet conception of the socialist world led by Soviet Union and with Moscow’s attempt to expand a socialist market.

Chinese scholars define national strength as the country’s potential power in political, economic, military, scientific, technological and educational areas at any time. China rank at third largest economic state these days in science and education. China’s scoring is 7th that for the US, one fifth of France, Germany and Great Britain. China’s internet population has over taken the US to the worlds biggest with about 220 million web surfers, a research firm.

Politically China is a communist country. However no party is allowed to emerge with challenges of China’s communist system. To understand the analogy between China and Korea it is helpful to understand the general situation in South Korea before democratization. Before it democratized, Korean society typified a society with an authoritarian regime, its politics were characterized by the following:

• The state limited social activities and interest groups, while it encouraged the market oriented economy
• Due to its weak authority the regime used perceived means to control the situation
• The elite who control power usually come from the army and the army played the crucial role in politics when its ideology collapsed, the regime ruled by enforcing its power

We cannot say today China is totally lacking democracy. At local levels people are involved to look after their affairs democratically. At a grass root level the seed of democracy has been planted. China needs to be understood in the background of its distinct history that has been since ages characterized by respect for authority of elders and other peculiar Chinese traditions.

The military view is that sustaining peaceful international relations might be difficult. Soldiers in fact see a threatening environment full of uncertainties even without an immediate and major military threat to China’s security. Analysis reflecting the military point of view especially in Jiefangun Bao have began to stress concept of national defense with in future environment that contains no immediate major military threat to China.

Military strength plays an important role in determining China’s global status and China’s national reserves around its border areas and territorial waters. Indeed, without powerful national defense China will be unable to retain its position in a fiercely competitive world.

Although Beijing’s strategic nuclear forces are compared of those of US and USSR they form a critical component of China’s deterrent strategy against the Soviet Union and are a source of pride for China’s military establishment, further more over the past three years Chinese strategies have became quite specific in analyzing the role of Beijing’s strategic nuclear forces in promoting China to engage in small or limited ways without facing nuclear blackmail from the major superpowers because of this capability to its defense policy trends in Soviet US strategic arms reduction negotiations.

Being a communist country China can not allow people’s freedom of speech or expression. This was evident by Tiananmen Square massacre 1989 in Beijing where 2000 students were killed just because they questioned the government, voiced against corruption, demanded democratic reform and economic change. Around the world there was an outcry against human rights violation. Even today US commemorate 4th June. Secondly, being communist state, rampant corruption is observed. Due to one party system there is no right of expression, nobody can freely take part in government. If any article in legislature is not clear, no one could question it. Nobody can ask for human rights. Thus there is limited or no political openness.

US President Obama have same policies as made by Bush. Recent visit of Hilary Clinton to China proved this. China’s investment in US currency is $800billion plus. US dollar would depreciate badly if China retrieves its investment from green bag. Hilary Clinton meeting Chinese government officials encouraged them to continue to invest in dollar to which China asserted its full support.

China is one of the most polluted regions due to industrialization. When 2008 Summer Olympics were to be held in Beijing, all industries were shut down for 5–6 months before the start of Olympics.

States conduct diplomacy based on their self images and images of the outside world. In the past 20 years, China has undergone a profound transformation in how it views itself and the world. It no longer view itself as a country on the edge of the international community, but as raising power, with limited but increasingly significant capacity to shape its environment. Globalization is a multifarious form poses a number of challenges to the Chinese state. The traditional concept of territory and the ability of state are to implement its national policy preferences to become constrained due to the impact of factors such as increased flow of capital and the co-existence pressure to liberalize markets. Military security has also developed global dimensions as a result of technological advancement as well as livelihood of conflict escalating well beyond the initial war. To sum up china is industrialized power right now. Friction can be created between China and US if it dreams to become superpower. Until then its relations with US will remain friendly and smooth going.

References:

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