America′s Response to China – A History of Sino– American Relations 4e

Excellent discussion of the period 1949-1972, which Cohen characterizes as The Great Aberration--when the US saw China as unambiguous enemy.

China is a country ancient as the hills and long used to autocratic governance while America is a young country by comparison, borned and lived democratically. The two countries are as different as chalk and cheese. They are miles apart, literally and figuratively, yet they keep rubbing each other and keeps each other in sight, sometimes in awe, sometimes in contempt, always with suspicion. Warren Cohen has written the fifth edition of his book a year shy of the 40 years since his first edition was published (1971). He begins the story of US-Sino relationship from the mid nineteenth century when America entered China as Britains's junior parrtner in commerce. Cohen covers the role of America during this period in which treaties were being made between China and the Western powers, namely Britain and France. China used America in its efforts to contain if not isolate Britain. America witnessed two rebellions in China - the Taiping rebellion and the Boxer rebellion - and eased its way cautiously through them. When the Japanese and the Russians began their intrusions into China, America once again found itself a useful third party to China, and economic prospects for itself.That had been the American attitude to China which seemed to be a rehearsal for the later Chinese civil war between the Nationalists under Chinag Kai Shek and the Communists under Mao Tze Tung. From a policy since Roosevelt's discerning but careful approach, America aided Chiang more because it feared communism than it loved the Nationalists. Cohen might be telling a different history today had the Americans gone all out to help Chiang push the communists out; but it realised that that wasn't a task worth the risks. Dean Acheson was reported to have said that he took office as American secretary of state at the time when Chiang Kai Shek was closed to collapse. At that time, Acheson himself was more concerned about creating NATO than to contain communism in Asia. The Nationalists eventually found itself governing Taiwan, keeping the dream of a Republic of China alive but incapable of realization as the mainland grew economically and militarily from the 1960's.Cohen traces the thawing of the frosty US-Sino relationship in the 1970's and 1980' to the new awkwardness caused by China's repression of human rights activists in China and Tibet, and the supression of major movements like the Falungong. Nonetheless, America was determined not to create open hostility with China and both sides arrived at a quiet compromise when China detained the American reconnaissance plane that had collided with a Chinese fighter plane.Cohen comes up to date with the situation in the twenty-first century. He identifies the two issues that contibue to divide the two countries. The first is America's continued rejection of communism, and second, America's support for a democratic Taiwan. The problem is that China is adamant that Taiwan must not be accepted internationally as an independent nation. America's response to Chinese intentions will be tricky. When America exerted pressure on China prior to the twenty-first century, it was the moral, economic, and military leader in the world. Now, as Cohen observed, "George W Bush had succeeded where the propagandists employed by Hitler, Stalin and Mao failed: it made the United States a pariah, largely as a result of its invasion of Iraq, its approval of torture in violation of the Geneva Convention, the symbolism of the Guantanamo prison complex, and the appalling photographs of the mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Graib. International public opinion polls recorded widespread unhappiness with the United States, even among its allies - and a broad consensus that Washingtoon posed a greater threat to the world than did Beijing." In this current state, as China expands economically and militarily, what will America's response be, especially when America continues to want a China that is "peaceful, prosperous, open, responsible, and cooperative".Cohen has provided a clear, concise and up-to-date account of the US-Sino relationship that is also analytical and a joy to read.

Needed book - good price; fast shipping

Purchased for a college class and it was a really interesting read. Also, very easy text to read and understand.

good book