ABSTRACT
The U.S.–China relationship is one of the world’s most important bilateral relationships in the twenty-first century, and, amid the international financial crisis and mounting global challenges, it is all the more important to further develop U.S.–China relations. President Obama even said, “The relationship between the United States and China will shape the 21st century, which makes it as important as any bilateral relationship in the world.”1 Many American scholars and policy analysts believe China, as a rising power, with its continued rapid growth, military modernization, and growing regional and global influence, will provide both challenges and opportunities to the United States.2 For the foreseeable future, China will remain a key focus of U.S. foreign policy, while the United States will be treated the same way by Beijing. As some scholars have put it, “As the twenty-first century unfurls, the stakes have never been higher for getting U.S.–China policy toward China right …The U.S.–China relationship is too big to disregard and too critical to misread.”3
