China and America are two of the top global powers in the world. They have single-handedly shaped nations and countries, caused wars and affected diplomatic relations and most importantly have become co-dependents economically. But to understand the state of relations between America and China, we have to take a deep dive into history, back to the Chinese Communist Revolution.
During World War Two, China and America were sort of allies out of convenience and they both had common cause to help each other: the Americans got a diversion of the Japanese army by supplying the Chinese to cause much trouble to the Japanese. Yet after the alliance of convenience, there would be a massive development of China politically: Mao Ze Dong would come to power and Chang Kai Shek, the ruler of the previous corrupt government would flee to Taiwan. More about that later. Mao Zedong's cult of personality would push many ideas onto the Chinese people, especially ones concerning the west being bad. Not only that, But Sino-American tensions would enter a period of almost non-existence when the Sino-Soviet alliance was renewed under Stalin. This alliance further punched holes in US-Chinese relations, but, in the end, this alliance was bound to fall apart.
Years after that, however, a big change would happen: Mao would die. Among the possible candidates to be Chairman next, Deng Xiao Ping was not a likely candidate as he had been purged twice by Mao. But like a phoenix out of the ashes, he got on top. With this, US-Chinese relations improved greatly, as the trip by Nixon to China just before Mao died started doing. He visited China and encouraged US presidents to visit them. In fact, all presidents except for Jimmy Carter after Nixon visited China. Deng also, just like Kruschev, tried to disassemble the cult of personality built around Mao Ze Dong. So from then on, the relationship between these two countries steadily improved, as they would.
But recently, relations have soured greatly: under the Trump administration, the holes in this tenuous alliance were stretched even further: it started with Trump's foreign policy, which acted to deter China. Trump’s administration also started a “trade war,” banning the sale of certain products to companies linked to genocides such as Huawei. In response, the Chinese tried to use “wolf warrior policy” to counter these genocide claims. But in the last day of Trump’s presidency, his administration officially declared that the treatment of Ugyhers in the Xin Jiang region was a genocide. These harsh policies would continue under Biden: expanding trade restrictions and strengthening IS Taiwan ties. But his administration openly declared that they want “competition not conflict.”
So what of the future? Well we can only hope US-Chinese relations improve, but a few things must be done first: an ending of the bad treatment of uyghurs in XinJiang but also an expansion of work and education Visas to Chinese students. But most of all, the only rock blocking our path after that is Taiwan. Well there are many views on the state of Taiwan, and I will not speak my own opinion here, but we must find some way of solving it. A major proposal right now is to have it declare self governance and have both the US and China back off. If we can do these things, there is a great chance of no conflicts between the two states in the future. But for now, only time can tell.
