ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the strategies that have been employed by two West European nations to adjust their foreign policies to pressures from the United States and mainland China since World War II. It discusses British and French security policies and concerns. France and Britain were selected because they are the West European nations that had the greatest stake in Asia after World War II and because they provide some interesting contrasts in their responses to the often contradictory demands presented by the United States and mainland China. The chapter presents historical summaries of the recognition issue as it was managed by London and Paris. It focuses on the development of British and French relations with mainland China since the establishment of diplomatic relations, emphasizing British and French responses to several successive strategies that have been pursued by Beijing over the last fifteen years.
