ABSTRACT
The US-China relationship has reached an unprecedented level in its breadth, depth, and strategic significance. China is due for another generational leadership transition at the end of 2012. In February of 1972, President Richard Nixon was able to move beyond Cold War thinking and redefine the way the American people perceived China: President Jimmy Carter consolidated the US-China relationship by establishing normalized relations with China in 1979. While the West continues to criticize the Chinese leadership for its policies regarding human rights, the environment, democracy, and dealings with 'unsavory' regimes, China's economic growth and management of rapid social change compel admiration and respect. As long as the United States and China both strive to create mutual understanding through policies based on rational and informed decisions. Finally, the George W. Bush administration's inauguration of Strategic Economic Dialogues (SED) with China paved the way for closer partnership on a number of fronts in the twenty-first century.
