Prior to Communism in China, it was known to be a chaotic country on the brink of self-destruction. With the emergence of the party leader Mao Zedong, came a new hope, which filled its inhabitants with the belief that China would return to its former historical greatness. American and Chinese relations before 1971 were in simple terms described as “uneasy”, due to the American, Soviet Cold War. It was not until President Richard Nixon visited China and realized the high value of having China as a ally that relations between the two powers began to become positive. Unknown at the time, it is assumed in the book Chinese Lessons written by John Pomfret, that the relationships he formed with the people he met in China would change his outlook on life and Communist China forever.
John Pomfret began his story Chinese Lessons as a third year Stanford student that felt extremely optimistic about gaining the opportunity to benefit from American political efforts to create friendly relations with China. He begins in 1979; here the author takes the reader through the immense difficulties associated with Americans studying abroad on Chinese soil. He describes his first interaction with Cao Guisheng, a Chinese spy (unknown at the time), working as a Chinese Diplomat. With his help, John was then permitted to study the Chinese language at Beijing languages Institute. After the author developed tedious study habits, he applied for Nanjing University, a school that allowed foreigners to
The policies enacted by American leaders were very effective in Europe, but failed to help Asia. In 1945, much of China had been corrupted by communism rule. Under the command of Mao Zidong and funding provided by the Soviet Union, Mao was able to take over China easily and corrupt much of its neighbor, Asia (Document F). Failing to prevent the corruption of Asia, the United States began to combat the oncoming fear and concern at
When Jan Wong first arrived in China, she was filled with the complete belief that China’s totalitarianism way of government was the best way of governing, and that no other way would do. While natives smiled behind false expressions, she failed to realize the true extent of the miserable lives under the Maoist regime until she herself experienced the injustices faced by the Chinese citizens. In Red China Blues, author Jan Wong writes of her experiences during her life in China and after, and how her whole journey led to the realization of the harsh reality that Maoism really was. As Wong learned more and more about the truth behind the totalitarian government, her own experiences helped her to transform
To begin the new plan in Asia, the US gave 2 billion dollars to the Chinese nationalists, set up in Taiwan, who were fighting the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP won the war against the nationalists in 1949 by appealing to greatest population in China, peasants.This victory made the American people fearful because the government had let China go “red.” They thought that if such a big country could turn communist, then what would keep the rest of the world from turning to the same communist policies, paralleling Eisenhower’s later “falling domino”
In 1972, Nixon began normalizing relations with the communist People’s Republic of China by traveling to Beijing for a week of talks. The People’s Republic of China and U.S. troops fought in Korea during the early 1950s and had been enemies. Nixon’s trip to China was meant for a even deeper wedge between the two most significant communist powers. The U.S. benefited by having closer diplomatic relations with China. This also helped with leverage in dealing with the Soviets, mainly in Vietnam. The United States also took advantage of the Chinese as a counterweight to North Vietnam. People believed that instead of using Vietnam to contain China, Nixon resulted in more success to use China to contain Vietnam. The People’s Republic of China had
On February 21, 1972 Richard Nixon decided to visit china. While Nixon is in china he met with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. The two leaders agreed to expand cultural contacts between their two nations. Americaslibrary.gov states, “Nixon also established plans for a permanent U.S. trade mission in China (1)”. The trade between the United States and China is huge today. One can go to any department store and they will see “Made in China” which has brought in millions of dollars to America and China. This would not be possible without Richard Nixon stepping out and improving relations in China. Another example of how good of a president Richard Nixon was before the Watergate scandal. Many people cannot seem to appreciate the improved relationship with China, because of the crime he committed. This is not fair to Richard Nixon, and is another reason why he should not have been forced to resign as the president of the United
Clearly, Nixon’s fleeting sense of morality during Watergate demonstrates a failure of leadership of the most severe magnitude. But, to be fair to Nixon, he was a genuine visionary in the field of foreign policy and his leadership in opening the door to China in 1972 is often regarded as a stroke of genius. Mao himself acknowledged that ‘only Nixon could go to China’. Nixon’s legacy, therefore, is a curious mixture of startling success and abject failure. With this in mind, it seems there are two essential lessons that policymakers should draw from Nixon’s period in office.
Nixon labeled his visit to China as “the week that changed the world”. When he arrived, Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, leader of China, greeted him with excitement. “Mao was as excited as I had ever seen him,” said Li, Mao’s personal Doctor. During Nixon’s week of stay in China, he and Mao negotiated the “Shanghai Communiqué”. This document stated the ways the two countries should approach their relationship. It established a series of rule based on the principles of respect declaring that the two countries shall not maltreat, but instead should make peace with each other.
To achieve this diplomatic strength, Richard Nixon first turned toward China. For decades, China had posed unique opportunities to America. However, these opportunities shriveled when in 1949, Mao Zedong established the People’s Republic of China, a communist republic aligned more with the USSR than with the United States. Given America’s animosity towards the Soviet Union, this animosity extended itself to the People’s Republic of China and to Mao Zedong. Just over twenty years later, though, even though Mao still held considerable power, the USSR and China began to drift apart.
Kaye Hong grown up in San Francisco and attended university of Washington. At the begging of his essay, he was not sure where he should lie his future in because he sees his future clearly in both China and America. Through half of his essay, we can tell that he is also considered China as a weak and low quality county by saying, “I shall deplore China’s lower standard of living, that the chaos of China’s government offers me no promise of economic security” (62). Although he had thought of go back to China, the bad living condition and insecure economy has immediately stopped his thinking. To put it differently, Hong is also lack of knowledge of China, and they way he looks at China’s future was incorrect. Indeed, at that time China’s economy and condition were not as good as today. But due to his enormous population, it is possible for its citizens to make it strong and rich, which this is also what the Stanford students are trying to express. However, Hong is very pessimistic with China’s
interview like: cheating on tests in China and the school system in China and I learned some
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has become more integrated and willing to cooperate within the global political and economic systems than ever in its history. However, there is growing apprehension in the Asia-Pacific region and the U.S. in regards to the consequences of rising in economic and military power in China. Descriptions about Chinese diplomacy in the policy and scholarly are less positive lately concerning China’s obedience to regional and international rules. There was little debate in the U.S. and elsewhere in regards to whether China was or was not part “the international community.” Scholars and experts in the early 1990s have contended
Snyder claims that realism failed to predict the Cold War. Given this, Mearsheimer states “China cannot rise peacefully.” Since realists describe the world as a self-help system, according to Posen, every country “must look to its own interests relative to those of others” and because “security is the preeminent issue in an anarchic world, the distribution of capabilities to attack and defend should matter.” Thus, because China’s strive for regional hegemony inevitably threatens the power dynamic of the global system, the U.S. will, according to Mearsheimer, take an offensive realist approach that will eventually lead to war. In addition, as seen in post-Cold War, economic stability greatly determines the distribution of power. Friedberg notes, that the projected “speed and magnitude of China’s growth in recent decades appears to be unprecedented” and as early as 2015, “China’s economy could overtake that of the United States.” Although the U.S. faces an unprecedented challenge to economic power, according to Ikenberry, China has signaled cooperation by “redoubling its participation in existing institutions, such as the ASEAN Regional Forum and the East Asia Summit or working with the other great powers in the region to build new ones.” Nevertheless, following the actions of the U.S. post WWII, China strategically makes “itself more predictable and approachable” to reduce “the incentives for other
As I understand the historical connection between China and United States, they were and in some sense still are both rivals, which began with Mao Zedong driving American-supported Chang out of China soon after the unconditional surrender of the defeat of aggressive Imperial Japan in 1945. Mao took over China and forced Chang to beat a hasty retreat to Taiwan Island. Then in l950, the world witnessed the fierce armed confrontation between Mao led China versus the United Nations' forces with the full backing of United States during the three year Korean War which eventually became a stalemate to this day. Then there was another world-shattering war between U.S. and Communist Soviet-China over the devastating Vietnam. So China had been at
China and U.S. relations are complex, but it is important to attribute historical context when analyzing contemporary issues. Prior to China establishing their global role as a superpower, their nation endured nearly a century of humiliation which began in the 1800s and concluded in the mid-1900s. Although they’ve redeemed their nationalism, the intrusion of Western imperialism created tension and hostility which lasted for years after. Also, the United States’ response to local Chinese events, such as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, negatively impacted their relationship because it was an example of how American media and officials utilized knowledge about particular Chinese events and disseminated various rhetorical messages in response.
Realism is one of the most dominant international relations theories in the academic world. But within Realism, Realists are split on a number of issues. A perfect example of which being the rise of China. Over the past 30 years China has increased not only in population and power, but has also achieved one of the strongest economies in the world. The rise of China is seen as problematic by many realists. Since the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union, the US has enjoyed a position of hegemony in the unipolar power structure of the world. Many fear that the rise of China could upset the current balance of power. One such individual is a prominent realist scholar, John Mearsheimer. He believes that war with China is inevitable and “calls for the US to do whatever it can to slow China’s rise.” Another political theorist Jonathan Kirshner wrote this paper to counter many of Mearsheimer’s claims, stating that Mearsheimer’s offensive realism “is wrong, and dangerous”. Kirshner suggests that instead of using offensive realism we should look instead to the theories roots in classical realism to analyse the rise of China.