The Conflict Between China And The United States

Jingoism intwined with governmental policy and “a majority…of Americans…grant[ing] spontaneous consent to foreign policy militancy” influences policies related to foreign and national security in the United States.1 European history of colonialism and imperialism impacted the development of foreign policy and national security. In Culture, National Identity, and the “Myth of America,” Walter L. Hixson leniently critiques American foreign policy, while advocating towards a more “cooperative internationalism.”2 Melvyn P. Leffler in National Security, Core Values, and Power fails to formulate an engaging argument for national security policies reflection of America core values. In reference to foreign and national security policy, both Hixson and Leffler refer to the impact of hegemony, with Leffler’s mention succinct and without specific detail. In the United States, foreign policy leans towards jingoism, while national security policy develops from general core values.

At the same time, the U.S. can attribute the globalization and the collective security to the countries of the Core and the Gap by America’s military force. (p.327) Also, the author regards China as a the diplomatic near-peer, unlike many realists view China as a major competitor, because China has senior leaders who were educated in the U.S.. (p.381)

This had led to British completely outmuscling the Chinese with their far superior technology, as well as forcing the Chinese into a treaty that opened up numerous ports in China, allowed Westerners to move to China, as well as pay reparations to the British. This utter defeat showed the Chinese that they needed to adapt, and our second document, a map forecasting the partition of China amongst various nations, showed them that they needed to make those changes quick. All of this led to arguments between groups who felt China needed to self-strengthen and those who feared the increasing influence of Western ideals that could be brought on by learning more about the West in order to better defend against it. This is shown in our third document on self-strengtheners, such as Feng Guifen who argues for youths to be taught in Western languages and sciences in order to best defend against them. This document shows further the nationalism within China, as well as the importance of traditions, ideals, and values, as both sides argue their points based on protecting them from Western

In fact, while the distinctive ideologies and religious groups still exist, the clear boundaries of different civilizations characterized by Huntington have blurred. When this dichotomy to recognize the world as direct confrontations between ideology and culture groups becomes no longer valid, the theory of the inevitability of the clash of civilization, thus, are now flawed, because it is realistically unreasonable, ethically wrong, conceptually biased and historically inaccurate. These problems regarding the clash of civilizations embody a misleading western supremacy shown in Bush’s speech as well as the war on terror on a larger

The influence China is having on the United States is extraordinary. As America continues to drastically import and purchase from China, China is purchasing and investing in valuable American assets. Some of these assets include energy, entertainment, food, aviation, minerals, land and other businesses. Although we operate in a global economy, the positive short-term gains by American companies selling to foreign investors may lead to negative long-term consequences. Countries such as China are literally buying tangible assets on American soil. This trend could affect commercial prices, resources, supply and demand. When a foreign company or individual owns rights to assets in the Unites States, American citizens could be subject to their conditions. Americans could be at the mercy of market conditions set forth by an entity to whom we are directly competing with on a global scale. For better or worse, China has great influence on inflation, monetary policy and acquisition within our own borders.

Since 1899, America has maintained an open door policy with China. Throughout the years, relations between the United States and China have changed with several effects on both countries caused by the open door policy.

The products of China played a role in the way the United States came about and how their identity was created and solidified. China was seen as influential and beneficial for the Americans through trade and customs that they brought along with them. Some individuals have traveled over to the United States for the Gold Rush and others just wanted a better life for their future and for their families’ future. There were other convincing reasons that pushed the Chinese to migrate away from their hometown into a new environment as well.

The civilizations, as identified by Huntington are Sinic [Chinese or Confusious], Japanese, Hindu, Islamic, Orthodox [Russian], Western [Europe, North American, Australia, New Zealand], Latin American and possibly African. And it is among these groups that share a “common interest and common values” and have a “common culture or civilization” that will lead to more interdependence on members of the same civilization and less dependent on the West. Huntington’s theory is that the West has had [at one time or another] a negative impact on every other civilization, and this has led to a decline of power and influence around the world, especially the Islam civilization. Therefore he predicts, “the fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future.”

Following incidents like the Boxer Rebellion, US Secretary of State John Hay’s creation of the concept of the economic “Open Door” is inevitable. It is the only way for America to not be entirely shut out from China. Had Hay’s not made the effort to issue the statement of principles protecting the equal privileges of countries trading with china and the support of Chinese territorial and administrative integrity. Any and all western influence in China would have been lost. The policy relates to the cultural ideals of Kipling’s “White Man’s Burden” because while the letter of the “Open Door” policy promotes the ideal that China doesn’t need Western governance or impartation of culture. The very spirit of the “Open Door” policy is that the United States is stepping in for china before all other Western imperialist powers and saying that they are creating a policy that protects China and ultimately governs China. The United States and Hay’s are basically still insinuating it is their burden to protect China from all ‘other’ colonialism. The problem’s in pursuing the White Man’s Burden in this case was that in the short term, one nations like Japan were also competing, and two China had was already beyond needing western help as China was aware of its value in natural

Following the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union, questions regarding what the new world order would began to arise. In the article published in 1993 “The Clash of Civilizations?”, Samuel Huntington predicts that the conflicts of the new world order would be between civilization and based in culture, rather than in ideology or economics (22). In his paper, he identifies seven (or possibly eight) civilizations that will interact with each other, provided six reasons as to why these civilizations will clash, recognizes the idea that civilizations other than the West are on the rise and makes suggestions as to how the West should act if his initial is to become true. Since the publication of his article over 22 years ago, Huntington

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Cold War was over, making the U.S. the only superpower left in the world. This has made the international system much more tranquil, and relaxed. The only country potentially powerful besides the U.S., is China. Many Americans fear China, not only because they are communist, but also because of their huge population. Their population is 1.3 billion people, which accounts 1/5th of the world’s population. As one of the only potential superpowers in the world, it would be in the best interest of all Americans if the U.S. and China became allies, instead of enemies. Peace and development, economic prosperity and social progress, are goals that both of

The events that have taken place over the past couple of centuries, and more so the past decade, have monumentally impacted the relationship between the United States and China for better and for worse. Today, China and the U.S. have evolved into two of the most elite superpowers in the world, and they classify as some of the most prominent leaders in economics, military, technology, and universal innovation. Currently, the United States is just weeks away from electing their next president, cyber-attacks are being investigated exponentially, and the South China Sea Debate continues to be disputed. The outcomes of all these events will undoubtedly affect the relationship between China and the United States for the next 10 years.

Political scientist Samuel Huntington in his article, ‘The Clash of Civilisations ', argues a new concept predicting the primary origin of future conflicts. His hypothesis follows the idea that the cause of conflict will fundamentally begin due to the clash of people 's cultural and religious identities. Written from a post cold war perspective in 1993, Huntington discusses how future wars will follow a similar pattern. He focuses especially on the impact of the ‘dominant civilization ' of the West against the world 's contrasting civilizations. Huntington 's primary focus of the West as a dominating force against the rest is one critique of his argument. In addition, Huntington 's definition of a civilization is also very open-ended and takes an idealistic approach to what a civilization is. His single-minded hypothesis often ignores evidence of past conflicts and takes a very black and white approach to ‘us versus them '. However, ignorance fueled acts towards different cultures have caused conflicts, and Huntington does hold merit in terms of conflict being caused by clashing cultures in his argument.

Huntington emphasizes these fault lines between civilization rooted historically. The Western concepts of individualism, liberalism, constitutionalism, human rights, equality, liberty, the rule of law, democracy, free markets, the separation of church and state do not match the values of other civilizations in non-Western cultures. The non-Western civilizations have few options: to isolate themselves from the West, accept the values of the West, or to “balance” the west with economic and military power and cooperation with other non-western civilizations against the west. The conflict between the west and the Confucian-Islamic states focuses largely, on one side is developing its arms and the other side is attempting to limit and prevent that arms build-up while at the same

The United States and China aspire to command the world economy, but their lifestyle and standpoints look like east and west. When comparing the U.S. and China in Hofstede 6 dimensions model, there were four main dimensions that are strikingly distinctive. These dimensions include individualism, power distance, long-term orientation, and indulgence. Recognizing cultural differences is the first step towards understanding each other. The difference between the United States and China are pronounced, and they merit rigorous examination.