The U.S.- China relationship has been one of the most important and challenging bilateral relationships in the world, with implications for global stability and economic growth. It has not been linear in the past, but is starting to make a recovery from disagreements and conflicts.
The two powers first came into major contact when the treaty of Wangxia was signed. The treaty marked the peace agreements between the US and China, and sparked trade for the first time. A few years later led to the start of the Boxer Rebellion, which led to people damaging foreign property in an anti-imperialist and anti-Chrisitan protest. The US eventually joined forces with the Empire of Japan to suppress this protest, in order to maintain peace with China. Then the open door policy came into effect and drove trade up significantly. The policy gave many western countries control over major trade ports and ostensibly created regions for different powers to control and influence. During the second Sino-Chinese War, The United States allied itself with the Republic of China, which paused the Chinese civil war, and led to the defeat of Japan and the end of the second world war. But this time, peace settlements were unable to be agreed upon between China and the United States, leading to the first roadblock. This led to the creation of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), led by Mao ZeDong. The Nationalist influence and government were then promptly exiled to Taiwan. The relations between the two powers unfortunately started to spoil. This led to the start of a global cold war between communists and anti-communist groups like the US. During this time, the Korean war had just begun, Between North Korea and the allied forces of South Korea and American Lead UN intervention efforts. In response to this, the CCP joined forces against the Western fighting force by sending millions of troops to defend the border. After years of back and forth intervention between each other’s political plans, we now jump to the 21st century. At the turn of the century, US-Sino trade was normalized and economies were thriving. But in 2007, when China announced an increase in Military funding, many people perceived this as preparation for conflict, as China had increased spending by almost 20%. Not consistent with the peace treaties agreed and signed upon by both countries. Conflicts settle and trade flourishes until 2012, where the US trade deficit with China reaches an all time high of around 295 billion dollars. And things eventually settle down again, with leaders between each country participating in each other’s events to ease any more built up tension within each republic. Then when Trump came into office, he implemented trade tariffs that directly targeted China, which led to an escalating trade war, with tensions rising mainly on technological products like semiconductors and processing chips. In turn, the government of China has also threatened a 60 billion dollar tariff on American goods. Trump disregards this, as he made the point that an increase in cost will force China to make a deal favoring the United States economy. Following this, Trump bans the export of telecommunications equipment that could jeopardize national security. Then comes the year 2020, where the first cases of the Coronavirus were reported and starting to be taken action for. Tensions skyrocket at this time, as Trump bans the immigration of non-US Citizens that have been in mainland china. Biden’s eventual victory in the presidential race still leaves tariffs raised by Trump untouched. The UN now declares China as a security threat and the leaders of each country eventually get together again to discuss options for preventing conflict and repairing relations.
From my perspective, it seems as if both countries are tired of this back-and-forth jabbing and each other’s goals and political actions. As leaders try to repair conflicts and ease negative beliefs within republics, the tensions will eventually lift, and the two countries either stop major conflicts and disagreements, or cut major ties and treaties off. Even though easing tensions and racism is the obvious best option for all aspects of consideration, history may present itself unpredictably. But in summary, I believe all objective facts point to the future Sino-US relations being on a linear path towards peace and prosperity.
