Sino-American Relations

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Sino-American Relations
Location of the United States and People's Republic of China
United StatesUnited States China People's RepublicPeople's Republic of China
United States People's Republic of China

The Sino-American relations denote the political relations between China and the United States of America (USA). Official relations between the two countries began in the mid-19th century. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, relations were initially shaped by the East-West conflict and the Cold War . After the collapse of the Soviet Union , mutual relations were increasingly determined by the economic and political contradictions that arose in the context of the continuous rise of the People's Republic of China as a rising great power. The Taiwan conflict also played a role.

Historical background

Beginnings until the founding of the Republic of China in 1912

June 14, 1844 marks the external beginning of official interstate relations between the United States and the Chinese Empire of the Qing Dynasty . The United States had previously (for the first time in 1784) sent diplomats to China with a consular mandate, but these had never received formal recognition from the Chinese government. In 1844 (two years after the end of the First Opium War ) US consular missions were established for the first time in the cities of Fuzhou (Foochow) and Xiamen (Amoy). In the following years further consular missions followed in other cities in China, including Shanghai in 1847 and Beijing in 1861. In 1862 the United States set up a permanent embassy in Beijing. This became possible after China was forced in the Treaty of Tianjin in 1858 to allow western diplomats a permanent settlement in the capital Beijing for the first time.

The relationship between China and the USA, compared to China's relations with former European great powers such as France , Great Britain or Russia as well as Japan, is less strongly shaped by the period of 100 years of national humiliation , as the USA was less strongly influenced by China's weakness in the 19th century . Intervened in China in the 19th century and forced fewer unequal treaties . Also, it was the US, which largely to the failure of projects of the European powers, China split directly among themselves, with their insistence on the open door policy ( Open Door Policy contributed). The starting point for this open door policy was the US desire for equal access to China, its markets and its resources for all major powers. In particular, John Hay , a US Secretary of State, sent letters to all great powers in 1899, asking them to recognize the territorial and administrative integrity of China and unrestricted use for all participating countries in the ports designated by the Unequal Treaties to allow the respective spheres of influence of the European colonial powers and Japan.

Republic of China until 1949

With the Xinhai Revolution that turned China into a republic, the United States temporarily suspended diplomatic relations from February 12, 1912 to May 2, 1913. From the 1920s onwards, relations between the United States and the Republic of China, proclaimed in 1912, developed on the basis of equality. From December 9, 1924 to July 25, 1928 there was another interruption in official relations. After that, the US officially recognized the Kuomintang government of the Republic of China.

Chiang Kai-chek (left) with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill at the Cairo Conference in 1943

From the 1930s onwards, the political situation in East Asia was increasingly determined by Japanese expansion, which was primarily at the expense of China. After the Mukden incident staged by Japan on September 18, 1931, Japanese troops occupied Manchuria , which belongs to China, without encountering major resistance, and established the Manchukuo state there, which is dependent on Japan . After further incidents provoked by the aggressive policies of the Japanese military, the Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937 . Japan occupied large parts of China, but met unexpectedly stubborn resistance from the Chinese national forces under the Kuomintang government of Chiang Kai-Chek . The complete submission of China did not succeed. After the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor in 1941, the United States sided with China in the war that ended with the unconditional surrender of Japan in 1945 .

After the war, China under Chiang Kai-shek was one of the victorious powers and the founding states of the United Nations . The Republic of China received one of the five permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council (alongside the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and France). In the Chinese civil war between the Kuomintang government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) militias , which flared up again after the end of the World War in 1945, the Communists were - for the West - surprisingly victorious and were able to conquer the entire Chinese mainland (“ Loss of China "). In 1949, the People's Republic of China was founded there with the Chairman of the CCP Mao Zedong as head of state. The national Chinese Kuomintang government was only able to assert itself on the island of Taiwan , where it established the Republic of China on Taiwan .

1949 to 1972

The USA initially did not recognize the People's Republic of China and continued to regard the Republic of China, which is now limited to Taiwan, as the legitimate representative of all of China. After the final ideological break between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China in 1962, American politics gradually rethought. A decisive turning point came under Richard Nixon's presidency from 1969–1974. In 1972 Nixon was the first American President to visit the People's Republic of China as part of the so-called ping-pong diplomacy . This was preceded by Resolution 2758 of the UN General Assembly in 1971 , in which the People's Republic of China was recognized as the sole legitimate representative of China. The People's Republic received the previous seat of the Republic of China on Taiwan in the Security Council and the latter was excluded from the United Nations. The resolution was passed against the US vote.

Development since 1972

From 1978, under Deng Xiaoping, the phase of reform and opening-up policy began in the People's Republic of China, which de facto meant a departure from the previous planned economy system towards capitalist forms of economy. This also intensified economic relations between the USA and the People's Republic. A political change of direction towards a pluralistic form of society was not connected with it. Despite individual signs of liberalization in some areas, the CCP kept political power firmly in its hands and defended it with armed force against demonstrators in its own country, as the Tian'anmen massacre on June 3 and 4, 1989, which the US demonstrated -American-Chinese relations temporarily strained considerably.

In the Republic of China, Taiwan, there was a different development. Here, too, there was strong economic development from around the 1970s and the country was counted among the East Asian so-called " tiger states ". At the same time, there was increasing political liberalization from around the 1980s. The one-party rule of the Kuomintang came to an end and other political parties were allowed. For the first time, Taiwan's autochthonous population was given a greater say in politics. The elections in Taiwan showed that quite a few Taiwanese had little or no interest in reuniting with mainland China. This provoked the People's Republic of China to make political and military threats against the Republic of China in Taiwan, which in turn brought the United States onto the scene, which has not had official diplomatic relations with the Republic of China since 1979, but has observed the development of a democratic society with sympathy.

The territorial conflicts in the China Sea have contributed to a deterioration in the relationship between the People's Republic of China and the United States in recent decades . Various states make territorial claims here on smaller, largely uninhabited islands, with the aim of securing the associated sea areas. In these raw material deposits are suspected. The US has not recognized the claims of Taiwan, the People's Republic of China or other states, has demanded freedom of the seas and shipping lanes, and has dispatched naval units into the waters several times, which in turn led to Chinese protests.

As of 2016

The President of the United States, who was elected in 2016, Donald Trump , had repeatedly attracted attention during the election campaign for his critical statements against Chinese economic policy, which he described as one-sidedly preferring interests. Under his presidency, an open trade conflict broke out between the two states in early 2018 . The United States accused the People's Republic of disregarding intellectual property, unfair conditions in mutual trade, and technology theft.

In July 2020, the US Navy sent the aircraft carrier combat groups of the USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan on so-called Freedom of Navigation trips to the areas claimed by China in the South China Sea. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called China's territorial claims illegal. The US ordered the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston in July 2020 because US laws and regulations were disregarded by Chinese diplomats. Details were not disclosed. The US government generally accuses Chinese agents of attempting data theft. As a result, China ordered the US consulate in Chengdu to be closed . From China's point of view, relations with the US are worse than they have been since 1979. Other points of contention are China's handling of the Uyghurs and the 2019/2020 Hong Kong protests . The USA imposed sanctions on China because of the Uyghurs, measures were also taken because of the action in Hong Kong and, for example, the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Ordinance was passed by the US Congress.

literature

  • Chenghong Li: Increasing Interdependence between China and the US and its Implications for Chinese Foreign Policy . In: New Dimensions of Chinese Foreign Policy , edited by Sujian Guo and Shiping Hua, Lexington Books, New York 2007, pp. 203-232.
  • Steven P. Feldman: Trouble in the Middle: American-Chinese Business Relations, Culture, Conflict, and Ethics. Routledge, London 2013, ISBN 978-0-415-88448-8 .
  • Liu Ji: Making the Right Choices in Twenty-first Century Sino-American Relations . In: Chinese Foreign Policy, Pragmatism and Strategic Behavior , edited by Suisheng Zhao, ME Sharpe, New York 2004, pages 243-255.
  • Evan S Medeiros: Strategic Hedging and the Future of Asia-Pacific Stability . In: China's International Relations in Asia , edited by Li Mingjiang, Routledge, London 2010, Volume I, pages 62-81.
  • Ingar Solty : The US China Policy Between Inclusion and Containment . In: Das Argument 296, Vol. 54, No. 1/2, pages 69-81.
  • Robert G. Sutter: Chinese Foreign Relations, Power and Policy since the Cold War . Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., New York 2008, Chapter 6, pages 155-188.
  • Wang Jisi: China's Search for Stability with America ., In: Foreign Affairs , Vol. 84, No. 5, September / October 2005, pages 39-48.
  • Yuwu Song (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Chinese-American Relations. McFarland & Co, Jefferson 2009, ISBN 978-0-7864-4593-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. a b c A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations, by Country, since 1776: China. Office of the Historian of the US Government, accessed June 2, 2018 .
  2. An overview of the China-USA confrontation Focus from July 25, 2020, accessed on July 25, 2020
  3. USA intensifies dispute with China over South China Sea stern.de of July 14, 2020, accessed on July 25, 2020
  4. Response to Houston: China closes US consulate in Chengdu
  5. Dispute over Uyghurs - USA impose sanctions on China