US Foreign Policy Towards China

Abstract

This chapter surveys the historical and contemporary nature of US foreign policy towards China, from the beginnings of their relations in the late 1700s to the modern day. The bilateral relationship between the United States and China is arguably the most consequential of the twenty-first century and is now most commonly examined through the prism of ‘great power politics’. As this chapter shows, however, throughout much of their shared history that relationship has been defined by enormous imbalances of power which favoured the US and wider West. Moreover, the legacies of those imbalances remain today, not least in the China policies formulated and operationalised in Washington. This is because US China policy has always been an expression of both material and ideational forces; while US economic and military capabilities are now increasingly matched by those of China, which have transformed radically in recent times, the most fundamental American understandings about China and its people have often endured for centuries, to be adapted to new political environments as required. As we will see, while US China policy has in many respects evolved significantly over time, it has also remained framed by historically familiar ‘truths’ about what China represents and accordingly about how it should be approached.