ABSTRACT
The American perspective on China’s growing power in the world cannot be put into a few words or easily understood. Quite obviously there are several important perspectives, not just one, and ultimately those perspectives are shaped by American interests-and the interests of those who articulate the perspective. As we begin to enumerate these interests, the American perspective fills in rather quickly. Certain sectors in the Pentagon began raising the specter of a new China threat almost before the August 1991 coup-makers in Moscow had drained their vodka bottles (yes, in the middle of the coup they began drinking-perhaps the surest sign of the flagging will to preserve the Soviet Union). Pentagon planners have never stopped hyping the China threat ever since: maybe this has something to do with preserving huge defense budgets in the post-Soviet era. Rightwing Republicans make China and any Democrat who utters a positive word about it into a pin˜ata that they flog daily, even hourly. It could be that these Republicans seek partisan advantage. Phalanxes of American China watchers tell us how to “manage” the Sino-American relationship: some of them might want a job in the next administration. As we move from the simple to the complex, however, it is not easy to specify the interests behind various American perspectives on China.
