China-U.S. Bilateral Relations

Only available on StudyMode
  • Download(s) : 82
  • Published : August 2, 2010
Open Document
Text Preview

Relation between the Peoples Republic of China and the United States have generally been stable with some period of tension, especially after the breakup of the Soviet Union which removed the common enemy and ushered in a world characterized by American dominance. There are also concerns which relate to Human Rights in the PRC and the political status of Taiwan.

While there are some irritants in China-U.S relation, there are also many stabilizing factors. The PRC and the U.S are major trade partners and have common interest in the prevention and suppression of terrorism and preventing nuclear proliferation. China is also the foreign creditor; China’s challenges and difficulties are mainly internal and therefore, there is a desire on the part of the PRC to maintain stable relationship with the U.S.

The China-U.S relation has been described by top leaders and academics as the world’s most important relationship of the 21st Century.

Much of the complexity of the China-U.S relations comes from the images the two have themselves and of the others. Within China there is a love-hate relationship with the U.S. One hand, American consumerism and culture are seen as stylish. At the same time, there is resentment of the American intervention into other nation’s affairs combined with a fear of American power. The Chinese are often perplexed at the stated motives of American Foreign Policy and tend to conclude that their goals (such as promoting freedom and democracy) are insincere cover for darker motives namely; to make China weak and divided.

America tends to see China as a far-off and distant land. The U.S often believe that as a part of its mission to advance freedom and democracy, it has the duty to advance the cause of human rights in china. Over the past 150 years, the Americans tended to see the Chinese people as oppressed and abused by either the Japanese in WWII and more recently by the communist party of China.

America does not generally accept the notion that many Chinese support the PRC government because of its Authoritarian Nature and are critical of the Non-Democratic government ability to make decisions to benefit the Chinese people. America also tends to believe that any Authoritarian government is necessarily intolerable – a viewpoint not grasped by most Chinese.

As a result, America tends to be baffled by the suggestion that most Chinese people find American criticism of human rights “abuses” to be hypocritical and meddlesome.

Country comparison:
|  |USA |CHINA | |AREA |3717813 Sq.m/s |3705407 Sq.m/s | |POPULATION |  |  | |POPULATION DENSITY |80 per Sq.m |363 Sq.m | |CAPITAL |Washington, DC |Beijing | |LARGEST CITY |New York 8.3 M |Shanghai 18.8 M | |GOVERNMENT |Constitution-based Federal Republic |Unitary Socialist Republic | |OFFICIAL LANGUANGE |English |Mandarin | |GDP(NOMINAL) | $14.441 T | $4.327 T | |GDP(PPP) | $14.441 T | $7.916 T | |GDP per Capita (N) | $47.440 T | $3.259 T | |GDP per Capita (PPP) | $47.440...
tracking img