IB History Changing Relations with the USA Notes

China and the United States: Cooperation Persisted Alongside Strategic Rivalry

1. The United States withheld diplomatic recognition from the People's Republic after 1949, maintaining ties instead with the Republic of China on Taiwan through two decades of Cold War hostility. Rivalry between China and the Soviet Union gave both Beijing and Washington an incentive to reconsider that hostility during the Nixon era, opening the way to strategic contact in the early 1970s.

Normalisation and Strategic Cooperation

1. The United States and the People's Republic established full diplomatic relations on 1 January 1979. Washington recognised Beijing as the sole legal government of China and ended formal diplomatic recognition of the Republic of China on Taiwan, while the Taiwan Relations Act of April 1979 allowed unofficial relations with Taiwan and authorised continued defensive arms sales.
2. Deng Xiaoping's visit to the United States in January and February 1979 presented economic modernisation as the basis for a new relationship. China and the United States shared an interest in containing Soviet power during the final decade of the Cold War, and Washington provided China with access to technology, education and trade, though without creating a formal military alliance; American intelligence cooperation with China even supported Afghan mujahideen resisting the Soviet occupation after 1979.
3. An August 1982 communique stated that the United States intended gradually to reduce arms sales to Taiwan, though the commitment remained disputed on both sides. Strategic cooperation weakened as the Soviet threat declined under Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s.

Trade, Reform and Economic Interdependence

1. The United States granted China most-favoured-nation trading status in 1980, lowering tariffs on Chinese exports. American firms invested in China's Special Economic Zones, supplying capital, management practices and technology, and Chinese exports to the United States grew rapidly as reform-era factories combined low labour costs with access to global markets.
2. After the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, the United States imposed sanctions but retained most commercial ties. Congress debated China's trade status annually during the 1990s, linking market access to human rights and security concerns, until permanent normal trade relations in 2000 removed the annual review process.
3. China entered the World Trade Organization in December 2001 after negotiations strongly supported by the United States government. WTO membership accelerated trade and foreign investment but also increased the United States' trade deficit with China, and the 2008 global financial crisis strengthened Chinese confidence because China's economy recovered faster than many Western economies.

Taiwan, Security and Strategic Rivalry

1. The 1995 to 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis showed that Washington would use military deployments to deter Chinese coercion of Taiwan. The accidental United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in May 1999 caused mass protests and deepened Chinese suspicion, and a collision near Hainan Island in April 2001 produced a diplomatic crisis over a United States EP-3 surveillance aircraft.
2. After 2001, cooperation against terrorism improved official contacts, but disagreements over Taiwan and military transparency continued. President Barack Obama's strategic rebalance toward Asia increased United States diplomatic and military attention to the region, while China's island construction and military facilities in the South China Sea intensified disputes over navigation and regional order.
3. President Donald Trump's administration imposed tariffs on Chinese goods from 2018, beginning a major trade conflict, and the United States restricted access to advanced technology while criticising Chinese policy in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. By 2020, economic interdependence remained deep, but relations had shifted from cautious partnership toward sustained strategic competition.