China's U.S. Policy Conundrum in the 1990s: Balancing Autonomy and Interdependence

Abstract

The Chinese have always had mixed feelings about America. The 1989 Tiananmen crisis has not led to an overhaul of China's policy toward the United States, but it did bring the policy into its sharpest focus since the rapprochement between the two countries in the early 1970s. Post-Tiananmen policies toward the U.S. focus on three central issues, all of which predate the 1989 crisis and reflect a fundamental dilemma in Chinese foreign policy. The first issue concerns the risks to China's political autonomy and domestic stability stemming from its close economic ties to the United States. The second involves Beijing's reassessment of its strategic environment and its devaluation of the importance of the U.S. in the regional balance of power. Underlying the first two issues is a third one, the rise of Chinese nationalism, which has gradually become the most controversial and problematic aspect of China's American policy. Together, these issues constitute a conundrum for Chinese leaders: how to assess the costs and benefits of dealing with a nation that is vital to China's economic modernization and future global role but whose values pose a major threat to the legitimacy of the Chinese government. In this regard, the fundamental challenge to China's American policy in the post-Cold War era is to find strategies compatible with maintaining China's political system, national independence, and status aspirations while at the same time achieving the economic and defense