The foreign relations of the People's Republic of China have gone through dramatic change since 1949. The strong-man rule of Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party leader's dominance of Chinese foreign policy decision making for three decades witnessed dramatic swings in alignment, repeated and strong commitments to revolutionary goals and ideals, and spasms of destructive mass campaigns within China that spilled over to impact Chinese foreign relations. Contrastingly, as China emerged...

Increased fluidity and pluralism in U.S. policy toward China in the post–Cold War period have led to growing non-governmental influence as both the administration and Congress have become the target of intense lobbying by organized groups concerned with human rights, trade opportunities, relations with Taiwan, and other hotly debated issues. This balanced study examines the central role of these organizations, focusing especially on two key cases of policy reversal: President Clinton's 199...

With new assertiveness and prominence, China under President Xi Jinping is rightly considered an emerging and aggressive superpower backed by growing economic and impressive military strength. In this meticulous and balanced assessment, Robert G. Sutter traces China’s actions under Xi Jinping, including the many challenges they post to the international status quo. He provides a comprehensive analysis of newly prominent Chinese unconventional levers of power and influence in foreign affair...

This book considers Chinese foreign policy and China's future role in world affairs in the context of the country's recent past. Robert Sutter shows that although it appears to be in U.S. interests for post-Mao leaders to continue moving toward international norms, a post-Deng leadership backed by growing economic and military power and reflecting profound changes in China's economy and society could move in markedly different directions. Most foreign powers appear willing to accommodate C...

Now in a fully revised and updated edition, this cogent book provides an overview of the historical context and enduring patterns of U.S. relations with Asia. Noted scholar Robert G. Sutter offers a balanced analysis of post–Cold War dynamics in Asia, which involve interrelated questions of security, economics, national identity, and regional institution building. He demonstrates how these critical concerns manifest a complex mix of realist, liberal, and constructivist tendencies that defi...

Congress and China Policy: Past Episodic, Recent Enduring Influence supports findings that bipartisan majorities in Congress have been instrumental in driving the fundamental shift in American policy toward China carried out during the past six years. Filling major gaps in the inadequate treatment of Congress in assessments of US policy toward China, this book compares recent Congressional influence with the episodes of Congressional activism in China policy over the past 200 year...

Traditionally, Taiwan has been viewed as the passive pawn of more aggressive powers, yet now it has begun to assert its voice in world affairs—especially through economic influence. This volume brings together leading scholars to examine the origins and implications of Taiwan's global role and the ramifications of its growing strength for such crucial policy issues as China's reunification and U.S. policy in East Asia.

Why do some governments and societies attach great significance to a particular anniversary year whereas others seem less inclined to do so? What motivates the orchestration of elaborate commemorative activities in some countries? What are they supposed to accomplish, for both domestic and international audience? In what ways do commemorations in Asia Pacific fit into the global memory culture of war commemoration? In what ways are these commemorations intertwined with current internationa...

We have become superheroes. Nothing can resist us anymore: not persons, ideas, facts, realities, or beings. We owe our superhuman strength to a tool we have taken up that submits everything to the scrutiny of our judgment: critique. After its first formulation at the end of the sixteenth century, the project of critique spread from one sphere to another until it became almost universal: we have all of us been transformed by our equal capacity to judge, approve, and reject. If modernity is ...

Introducing students to the place of population in environmental thinkingFor centuries, thinking about the earth's increasing human population has been tied to environmental ideas and political action. This highly teachable collection of contextualized primary sources allows students to follow European and North American discussions about intertwined and evolving concepts of population, resources, and the natural environment from early contexts in the sixteenth cen...

Taiwan has become a new flashpoint in Sino-U.S. relations in recent years. The nation just concluded its presidential and legislative elections in January 2024. The incumbent Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won a pyrrhic victory—with DPP keeping the presidential seat but losing the majority in Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan (Congress). The political status of Taiwan is one of the few, if not the only, issues that have won bipartisan support. New Developments in the Trilateral Relationshi...

The relationship between the United States of America and the People's Republic of China is traced in this dictionary containing hundreds of cross-referenced entries on the presidents and prime ministers, the secretaries of state and foreign ministers, other key players, and the more significant institutions and events. Everything from the Boxer Uprising in the late 19th Century to Nixon's historic visit to China in 1972, from the crisis over U.S. arms sales to Taiwan in 1982 to the U.S. b...