United States Foreign Relations: China

Abstract

This entry focuses on US foreign relations with the People's Republic of China from 1949 to the early twenty-first century. As one of the most important bilateral relations in the world, US-China relations have experienced three major transformations since 1949, and the two nations embarked on a new phase after the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. From 1949 to 1969, US foreign relations with China featured hostility and a US containment strategy. From 1969 to 1989, the United States treated China as its de facto ally to counterbalance the common Soviet threat. From 1989 to 2009, the bilateral relations experienced a mixture of ups and downs characterized by both cooperation and competition. After the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, US-China relations entered a new era, in which the strategic competition between the existing hegemon and a rising power would be th likely dominating feature of US foreign relations with China for the next decade.