Reviews for China

The average rating for China based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-06-23 00:00:00 william jacob With American debt and the trade discrepancies to China, China has never been more important to the United States than it has now. Relations with China have taken on numerous guises as China has gone from its dynastic past to the socialized “capitalist” nation it is now. Warren I. Cohen of the University of Maryland recalls the curious relations between the United States and China from their 1844 Treaty of Wang-hsia to the election of US President Barack Obama in 2008 in his America’s Response to China: A History of Sino-American Relations. Cohen, releasing this edition at a new watermark in Chinese economic power furthers Chinese growing influence in an increasingly “multi-polar” world. Evident throughout America’s Response to China is that while through the more than 150 years of relations, China remained the lesser of the two in status; it has largely been able to retain independence from the American hegemonic controls. This illustrates the high importance that China has had to the United States. Because America’s Response to China: A History of Sino-American Relations is a synthesis of works, Cohen does not make a cohesive argument. Rather the interplay between the United States and China provides the context for evidence of the juxtaposition of struggle and cooperation. While Cohen, who has released an edition after major watermarks in China, such as the Tiananmen Square massacre, clearly knows the history of United States and Chinese relations, his book contains few notes (sometimes only 1 or 2 a chapter). This might cause some scholars to dismiss this synthesis from scholarship. The interplay between the United States and China began in the era of imperialism. While Britain forced the Treaty of Nanking in 1839 for Chinese blockage on the trade of opium, the Chinese handed the United States a treaty without such bloodshed in 1844. Lacking the imperialist force of the Europeans, Americans often benefited from the labors of others in this way. An example of this was in 1860, when the British and French battered Chinese coastal fortresses, only to be turned around. The Chinese then permitted the Americans to ride into Peking for the fruits of these labors. Cohen states that the Chinese perceived the Americans to be the friendliest of the evils and ultimately the most exploitable. Here as well as later in the history of US-China relations, China planned to use America from a perceived position of weakness. America’s Response to China provides similar examples from China’s 1970s rapprochement with the United States providing a counterweight to the Soviet Union to Chiang Kai-shek stockpiling American aid for an anticipated civil war. While China proved reluctant to be bullied by the Americans and even appeared indignant to American expectations, Cohen determines that Americans assumed the role of “protectors” of China. The United States efforts to promote the Open Door Policy, support the Kuomintang, and assist in the modernization of China were not out of altruism, but always in an attempt to serve American interests. Since the “aberration,” the United States and China have slowly regained a working relationship, especially as it benefits the two nations economically. Still, Cohen warns that 2 main issues test cordial relations: China’s dismal human rights record and United States’ support of Taiwan. Taiwan, its autonomy, and its defense have brought the United States and China to the brink of war. Each US administration presses these issues, but ultimately backs away from them as China refuses to budge. The United States depends on China too much to strong arm it into anything. Cohen illustrates this with his example of Bill Clinton backing away from this threat make Most Favored Nation status contingent on China’s human rights policies. Cohen’s America’s Response to China: A History of Sino-American Relations is a concise synthesis of the history of relations between the two countries. While largely written from the American perspective, the book considers the Chinese perspective. This allows the reader to sympathize with the Chinese in the face of their obstinacy. Because of the growing importance of the nations to one another, Cohen’s book will remain relevant in introducing readers to the topic, while providing insight into current affairs.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-05-31 00:00:00 Jenny Cassen Good if outdated book. Unfortunately it seems like each chapter was written by different people as information is repeated in multiple chapters. This makes the book significantly longer than it needs to be.