ABSTRACT
The US reconciliation with the People's Republic of China (PRC) begun by President Richard Nixon and continued by his successors has won wide bipartisan support in the United States as one of the most important breakthroughs in US foreign policy since the cold war. The normalization of US diplomatic relations with the PRC announced by President Carter and Premier Hua Guofeng on December 15, 1978, settled some major outstanding issues in the prolonged debate over the "Taiwan question" in US foreign policy. Efforts by the Carter administration to build support for its China policy also suffered because of persisting strong differences within the administration about the ultimate objectives of US policy. The secrecy that has surrounded US-PRC relations has exacerbated disagreements among US leaders over policy toward Taiwan and US-PRC security and economic relations. Congressional officials were particularly upset and suspicious over the administration's handling of China policy matters.
