ABSTRACT
In 1984 China demonstrated the axiom that any nation’s domestic and international policies are closely linked. As Dorothy Solinger has suggested, China’s leaders have taken foreign participation as an essential part of the nation’s program of ambitious economic transformation. Given the changed international environment and the enormous economic development problems facing China, the leadership adopted a foreign policy that it felt would best serve the nation’s rapid modernization. Continuing the spirit of the independent foreign policy, China declared its stance to be one of non-alignment. In August economic relations between the United States and China became more complicated when American protectionism threatened the bases of Sino-American trade. Continued Sino-American difficulties over the Taiwan question were paralleled by a continued lack of progress in the development of a strategic component to the relationship. Much was also accomplished in China’s relations with the Soviet Union during 1984.
