Living With China
This is a book Summary I did for an International Polictics Course. I do
not
wish to have my name published, because if the teacher found out I
submitted it
I would be expelled. I attend SUNY in NY, USA. I recieved an
A on this paper.
The only comments she made was that I needed to replace
the Whichs with thats
& I needed to have a page for siting. Book Summary
: Living With China
Living With China: U.S. -China Relations in the
Twenty-First Century is a book
edited by Ezra F. Vogel which assess the
political, economic, and human rights
issues which the U.S. must consider in
developing a consistent and mutually
beneficial foreign relations policy
toward China in the twenty-first century.
Tension between U.S.- China
relations date back to World War Two. Additionally,
the Tienanmen Square
incident in 1989, further aggravated U.S.-China relations.
Since the end
of the Cold War, and especially since 1991, the United States has
had no
consistent foreign policy in regards to China. This book is a compilation
of
background papers, from numerous authors, which were written for the
November
1996, American Assembly meeting whose purpose was to discuss and
work to reach a
consensus on U.S.-China relations. The essays deal with the
issues that will
mold future relations with China. The book consists of an
Introduction, eight
chapters and an Address to The American Assembly given by
Senator Sam Nunn. The
introduction gives a brief overview of political events
and history which have
led to the then current (1997) state of relations
between the United Sates and
China. In addition, it gives a concise,
clear summary of what issues China and
the U.S. agree upon and which issues
they do not. The most notable disagreements
between U.S. and China are over
Taiwan and Tibet, and human rights. The
introduction further goes on to
include a summary of each chapter in the book.
The eight chapters include
topics on issues over Tawain, Tibet, Hong Kong, the
Tiananmen Square
incident, international commerce, Chinese economics,
environmental concerns,
and commercial diplomacy. The first chapter, written by
Michelle
Oksenberg, evaluates the distinctive problems that U.S.-China relations
face
in regards to Tibet, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Oksenberg explains
the
conflicting perceptions that the U.S. and China have on these issues. The
United
States is worried about what effect Chinese control over Hong Kong
may have on
global economy, interested in maintaining acceptable treatment of
Tibetans, and
wishes to guard Taiwan from possible Chinese threat or Force.
China sees these
as "unwarranted intrusions into its domain," [pg. 94] and a
strategy
to keep China weak. Oskenberg opines that the United states and
China must have
more talks to remedy these differences while having more
empathy and
understanding of the other's view. Chapter two is written by
Douglas H. Paal and
examines China's increasing economic and military
influence and how it is likely
to affect the entire East Asian region. There
is a delicate balance between the
U.S.'s protection of other Asian
countries and not provoking China. Again, the
need for increased, consistent
communications between the U.S. and China are
emphasized. Paal advises that
China is willing to work with the U.S. as long as
it comes from a rational
base, rather than whims and emotional reactions. In his
conclusion, Paal
opines that "to some degree tensions and perceived
provocation will be
necessary and inevitable component of a policy intended to
dissuade China and
others from counterproductive paths."[118] Chapter 3 is
written by David
Lampton, and discusses the undoubted need for China's, and
especially
Beijing's, involvement in world organizations. He makes clear the
U.S.
and the world organizations should avoid alienating China. This is
because
China is one of the rising global powers and it's strong sense of
nationalism
cannot be injured without suffering a negative effect on the rest
of the world.
Chapter 4 is written by Dwight Perkins, and as its title
states, analyzes
"How China's Economic Transformation Shapes Its Future."
[Pg. 141] The
author goes into long discussion about the changing economics
and increasing
wealth in China and what effects this may have globally and
the United States.
It is concluded that, even though, the United States
has little control over how
China chooses to grow into becoming a global
power, it is in the U.S.'s best
interest to encourage China to do so within
the global economic system and join
the World Trade Organization. Chapter 5
is written by Harry Harding and focuses
on the major issue of human rights.
The major conflict is in that the American
public views China's treatment of
rebel, labor unions, child labor, and
illegality of religion are innately
wrong and most believe, via the press and
Tiananmen Square, that human
rights in China have diminished. China on the other
hand, sees that it has
made great progress in this area including giving more
power to the
legislative bodies, and popularizing the local elections, and feels
slighted
by America's inability to recognize this. It sees America's pressures
through
sanctions and removing its priority nation status as nothing more than
to
keep China weak. The basics are that the two country's innate
political
values and ideology conflict and make resolving this issue quite
difficult. The
author's conclusion is to mange the issue by China taking on a
program of
gradual political reform and understand the rest of the world's
concerns about
its human rights activities and the United State's creating an
open-minded
definition of human rights and that the two should learn to
cooperate with each
other to resolve this issue. Chapter 6 is written by
Julia Chang Bloch and focus
on business and economic relations between the
U.S. and China. This is one of
the areas where the U.S. and China get along
quite well, but is often
dynamically affected by other issues such as human
rights. To keep these
relations from being negatively affected the author
believes that the U.S. must
recognize China as an emerging world power,
involve China in the global
community and coax China to follow the political
and economical rules set in
place, encourage China to be involved in global
decision making including
joining the WTO, and promote trade and investment
between China, to bind and
build ties with China. Chapter 7 is written by
Michael McElroy and Chris Neilson
and centers around the challenges China
faces in regards to air pollution and
their climate. The Chinese government
realizes how important these are to their
future, but faces many economic
restraints in doing so. Having the largest
population of all the countries,
causes it to consume a large amount of energy,
and hence almost two thirds of
its energy needs are satisfied through the
burning of coal, despite the
environmental consequences. Working with China in
developing long term
solutions to these problems will politically and
economically benefit both
countries. Chapter 8 is written by Kenneth Lieberthal
and reviews what has
affected the policies of China and the U.S. from 1989 to
1996, which have
consequently resulted in the current state of foreign relations
between the
two. The ongoing theme of the chapter is that by the two
countries
misunderstanding each others policies a vicious web of increasing
distrust has
been formed. Again, the need for more communication to work out
the
misunderstanding is stressed. One of the things that gleams at me after
reading
this book, is how similar China and the U.S. are to Germany and
Eastern Europe
prior to World War 2, and the U.S. and Russia during the Cold
War. China is a
proud country which is eager to become a global power. The
united Sates,
recognizing this, wishes to guide China into a place which will
be beneficial
and non threatening to the U.S., but China sees this as
interference and angered
by it. In addition, the U.S. wants to see China
become a more democratic nation,
and by attempting to force its views, has
caused China to believe that the U.S.
wishes to weaken them. Although the
current state of relations, in regards to
Taiwan, is not at the degree it
once was it does mimic some cold war politics. I
chose this book because of
my interest of the United State's future foreign
relations with China. I did
not have a clear understanding of the dynamics of
the foreign polices of the
two until I read this book. I am now able to fully
understand the complicated
web of issues which affect the foreign policy making
decisions for the United
States in regards to China. Furthermore, I was unaware
of the U.S.
involvement with Taiwan, so I learned something there too. My only
complaint
is that at times it is often redundant, due to the numerous authors.
The
same information could have easily been given in 100 fewer pages. Overall
I
found Living With China, to be very informative. I would recommend it to
anyone
who wishes to better understand U.S.-China relations.