ABSTRACT
The role that the United States has played in the process of China's economic reforms and the modernization of its defences can only be understood within the context of Sino-American relations as a whole. The United States looms very large in most aspects of China's foreign relations and especially on issues to do with strategy, defence and modernization. Indeed these issues touch the core of Sino-American relations as they involve security and economic concerns that are fundamental to the interests of both sides. As such they necessarily reflect the deeper historical and cultural forces that have traditionally shaped relations between these two states that are the product of totally different historical experiences. Although the oscillations in Sino American relations since World War II may be seen as the product of changes in the international strategic environment, the ways in which each side conducted the relationship reflected these deep differences in the political cultures between them.
