The China dream: America’s, China’s and the resulting competition

Abstract

This chapter reviews the most recent era of US–China ties—from President Nixon’s opening to China to the Trump administration—through the lens of both China’s and America’s expectations about China’s rise to great power status. The existing tension between Beijing and Washington was not inevitable—although likely. It wasn’t inevitable if reformist voices within China had more influence and if China’s Dream had only been to reclaim its great power status. In turn, America’s expectations about China were driven initially by a desire to help it rise as a counterweight to Russia, but also to make it a “responsible stakeholder” in the international order. Neither of these was particularly realistic, thus explaining why the current relationship has ended up where it has. The essay closes with an analysis of: (1) what key policy steps the United States needs to take to respond to China’s challenge; (2) the Trump administration’s formal strategy to address what they describe as China’s revisionist ambitions; and (3) the difficulties confronting the administration in carrying out those plans.