The United States and China have been conducting extensive operational-level engagement on nuclear arms control and nonproliferation issues for more than three decades. Many policy-makers and analysts are wondering whether such engagement has contributed to more trust in the two countries' nuclear relationship. The core question that this research seeks to address is: does operational-level engagement between the United States and China increase China's trust towards the United States in their nuclear relationship? And if so, why is this the case and how does this take place? This research distinguishes strategic trust from moralistic trust and examines the impact of operational-level engagement on helping states recognize common interests and/or common moral principles. It fills the gap in existing international relations research that does not answer the question of whether and how trust arises between states that do not imagine or understand there to be common interests or shared moral principles at the inception of engagement. The research uses three cases in the U.S.-Chinese nuclear engagement to show that interaction at the operational-level brings about convergence of perception about common interests at the top-level through building of epistemic community and enhancing bottom-up communication. However, such engagement encourages realpolitik thinking in Chinese nuclear community and therefore undermines moralistic trust between the two countries.

Thesis advisor: Robert Ross / The regional great power competition between the United States and China is escalating in various dimensions such as economic, political, and security realms. Who instigates such tension and how? To answer these questions, this paper inquires whether it is the declining power, the United States, or the rising power, China, that causes regional tension to heighten. Applying the theories on power transition and power transition war to the three case studies on South Korea, Taiwan, and the South China Sea dispute in Vietnam, how the United States is provoking China to adopt policies that increase tension will be examined. / Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science.

The Research of the Relationship between the U.S., China and Taiwan After the 911 Incident Abstract The traditional diplomacy of America puts its main focus on Europe with little attention on Asia, however after having the 911 Attack in the U.S.2001, Bush junior administration has immediately adjusted the pace of global strategies. The main strategy has shifted its focus towards Asia, it shows that the US makes National Defences the first priority and seeks for the support of counter- terrorism from China in Asia. Before the 911 incident, China was not at the very heart of American policy in Asia policy, as a result of 1999 Chinese Embassy bombing in Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia Republic of Serbia and the April 2001 Hainan reconnaissance plane incident, there had been an awkward tension between U.S. and China. After seeking the cooperation of counter terrorism with China, it presented an opportunity that the U.S. and China can use to improve their relationship. Since the normalisation between U.S. and China, it has been through from the ¡§strategy cooperation relations¡¨ which was established to against Russia to the neorealism of ¡§constructive relations,¡¨ Clinton era formed a ¡§comprehensive association¡¨ with mainland China and advanced it into ¡§ constructive strategy partnership,¡¨ yet, before 911 Attack, the relationship of Bush junior Administration and China were ¡§strategic competitors¡¨, then after 911 incident, due to the strategy transformation of U.S., both parties developed ¡§ Constructive cooperation relations, ¡¨ even though there are still conflicts on the benefits, U.S.-China relation has ameliorated to some extent. As far as U.S. concerns, China is regarded a partner of counter terrorism and benefit exchanger by the world, yet U.S. recognises China as a potential strategic adversary, in some ways, U.S. still exposes the threatening gesture to China. Bush junior has indicated to China that U.S. does not support the independence of Taiwan, but if China force invades Taiwan on the premise that Taiwan does not declare independence, U.S. does not rule out the possibility of assisting Taiwan by the means of miliary. It has shown the U.S. strategy has changed from ¡§strategic ambiguity¡¨ to ¡§strategic clear¡¨ since Clinton to Bush junior. After the 911 incident, the relationship of U.S. and China has definitely improved in a short period, in terms of the long run, both parties still have serious differences regarding to the problem of Taiwan, human rights, economics impacts and anti nuclear proliferation. These conflicts still restrain the development of U.S and China relationship, in addition, U.S. has troops in middle Asia, in terms of the military strategy, the benefit of Mainland China is deprived. In terms of long term U.S-China relationship, it represents a cooperative yet defensive relationship, on the basis of that Taiwan does not declare independence, according to U.S.-Taiwan relationship, U.S. will secure the safety of Taiwan, and maintain the peace cross-straits.

This dissertation investigates the U.S. military presence in World War II-era China, Americans’ first attempt to forge a nominally equal military alliance with a non-Western nation. Drawing on overlooked Chinese and English-language sources from archives in six countries, it recasts how we view that relationship. Other studies attribute the wartime deterioration of Chinese-American relations to the contentious relationship between Chinese President Chiang Kai-shek and U.S. General Joseph Stilwell, or to conflicting wartime and postwar strategic aims. This study, by contrast, shows how the success and failures of the alliance turned upon the actions of a far larger cast of characters: GIs and Chinese soldiers, ordinary civilians, interpreters, hostel workers, farmers, prostitutes, thieves, bandits, and smugglers. It argues that the power asymmetries between these various actors permeated all levels of Sino-American interaction, undermining the Guomindang government, stoking American feelings of superiority, exacerbating Chinese sensitivities about unequal treatment, and making these allies into adversaries even after Stilwell left China but also long before Cold War animosities solidified. A military occupation, friendly or otherwise, required a daunting set of arrangements that are rarely examined in detail. Beginning in 1941, as some 70,000 U.S. troops trickled into China, American commanders and their Chinese hosts set about solving knotty problems of alliance management related to providing food, lodging, and interpreters. Interactions between GIs and Chinese civilians nevertheless proved fraught, particularly in relation to issues of money, legal privileges, cultural norms, and sex. As theft, misconduct, and violent encounters snowballed, military-to-military relations also deteriorated. From Chinese perspectives, the alliance became an occupation. From American perspectives, the Chinese became impediments—rather than partners. The wartime alliance marked a key turning point in how the United States projected power around the world as well as a seminal moment for modern Chinese perceptions of Americans. After Japan’s surrender, Chinese Communists would exploit local resentment against American servicemen to attack the Chinese Nationalists and seize and consolidate power. Meanwhile, the U.S. military’s legal, cultural, economic, political, and sexual impact on China set recurring patterns of American military behavior that have complicated U.S. policy down to the present day. / 2020-12-03T00:00:00Z

Realism theory provides the most powerful explanation for the state of war and the rise and fall of great powers. It expounds the important concepts and themes like national sovereignty, security, survival, interests, balance of power, balance of terror, alliance, dominance, hegemony and polarity. Realism can be classified as classical realism, structural realism and neoclassical realism. In recent years, liberalism, globalism and constructivism also have greatly influenced academics and policy-makers under the new phenomena of globalization and terrorism. This paper explores how classical realism theory has been applied to and revealed in the issue of American policy towards China. The past years of U.S. relations with China have been marked by many wars and diplomatic issues that bear important messages for contemporary policy-makers. Based upon the most representative incidents in the chronicles, this paper categorizes American relations with China into three periods: period one, from commercialism in 1784 to imperialism in 1899; period two, from dominance in 1900 to confrontation in 1949; Period three, from enemies in 1950 to competitors in 2009. From a brief retrospective of major events that occurred, it is concluded that most incidents are related to national interest and power issues, while only several cases are about ideological disputes. The emergence of China as an economic power within the last few years will shape the world as much as the United States in the late 19th century. As America is the world's greatest power and China is the world's greatest emerging power, the relationship between these two countries will largely determine the history of the twenty-first century. History teaches that such power transitions are inherently fraught with dangers and opportunities. Thus, it would serve the interests of the United States to rethink its relationship with China and make its policies more global and focused on the long term. No matter what happens in China, American policy towards that country should be guided by a clear and firm sense of American national interests.

This thesis aims to analyze the impacts on U.S. and global sorghum trade, and whether China will continue importing sorghum from the global sorghum market for feed use, if the Chinese government cancels its corn price support policy and corn temporary reserve program nationwide. This study uses the USDA-ERS China Model and the Country-Commodity Linked System (CCLS) to simulate the impacts on U.S. sorghum exports and the reduction of sorghum's global price, global production, and global trade volumes. The simulations are based on three scenarios: if China's sorghum import volume decreased by 50% from USDA-ERS's baseline projection, if China's sorghum import volume decreased by 35% each year from the previous year, and if China's sorghum import volume decreased by 70% from USDA-ERS's baseline projection in year one and by 90% from USDA-ERS's baseline projection in subsequent years. The modeling system is a large scale multi-country and multi-commodity partial equilibrium dynamic simulation model which solves for global prices and trade using individual country models. Policy instruments are applied to the China model and solved globally. The USDA-ERS China Model and the CCLS, used to project Chinese and global sorghum trends, includes the following policy instruments: tariffs, quotas, tariff rate quotas, export tax, direct payments, input subsidies, and procurement policies. This model simulates projections using price and income elasticities and assumed values for exogenous variables such as income and population growth. This model also incorporates behavior of state trading enterprises and WTO commitments into imported and exported equations for sorghum. / Master of Science / This research uses the USDA-ERS China model to analyze the impacts on U.S. and global sorghum trade, and whether China will continue importing sorghum for feed use, if the Chinese government cancels its corn price support policy nationwide. Results show that the decrease of China’s sorghum imports resulted in less sorghum demand and lower sorghum price in the global market. Sorghum exports for U.S. and other major sorghum exporters decreased significantly. The results show the necessity to seek new sorghum export opportunities worldwide for U.S. sorghum exporters. Meanwhile, U.S. sorghum exporters may change their cropping patterns to continue making profits by switching out of sorghum.

As the world’s largest emitters and economies, the United States and China play a critical role in global climate mitigation. Using Putnam’s two-level game showcases how the domestic political context of each country impacts their international policies. However, Putnam’s framework does not differentiate between bilateral and multilateral circumstances. The clarity and concentration of perceived costs and benefits for the United States and China from climate policies lead to differing outcomes on the multilateral and bilateral stage. Fear of the free-rider effect makes players assume payoffs that resemble the Prisoner’s Dilemma during multilateral climate negotiations, whereas bilateral negotiations usually result in more cooperative outcomes. These contrasting policy outcomes reflect the hot and cold relationship between the United States and China. The additional expediency and effectiveness of bilateral agreements suggest that substantial climate action will likely originate from strong bilateral agreements. In an optimal scenario, increased U.S.-China climate collaboration translates into a stronger relationship between the two global superpowers and provides other nations with the confidence and certainty to invest in abatement in a renewed global climate regime.

In the last decade China has transformed itself into a maritime power. It is well established that the appointment of Xi-Jinping as the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist in 2013 has been effective in rivalling the U.S Pivot to Asia of 2012 concerning the hegemonic dominance of the highly contested South China Sea region. The thesis aims to demonstrate how emerging powers like China are ready to exhibit methods of soft and hard power to liberate contested waters worth billions of unclaimed dollars of hydrocarbon resources beneath its seabed to showcase how an emerging power is ready to challenge an established power for regional hegemony. A combination of both qualitative and quantitative data has been used to examine Chinese power projection in the South China Sea with relation to their actions in terms of modernisation of their naval fleet, hedging of multilateral institutions and artificial constructions in disputed territories. In sum, a theoretical in depth analysis on how control over the South China Sea is crucial to long term Chinese security. .

During World War II, the United States had worked in a multilateral fashion with Great Britain and the Soviet Union to form the victorious "Big Three." The countries were optimistic that the peace they had achieved would be sustainable. However, after the Cold War began, the United States backed away from opportunities to work multilaterally; instead, working unilaterally to spread democracy and other principles around the globe. On many occasions, the United States has chosen to take action alone, leaving it isolated from other countries. With the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the bipolar system, the United States has sought superpower status and has sought to become a global hegemon on many fronts. Issues such as ideology and human rights have created tension in U.S. bilateral relations, notably with Russia, China, and France. While headway has been made to reduce tension since the Cold War, other issues have prevented the complete alleviation of tension in U.S. foreign relations with the three countries. The United States' pursuit of hegemonic status employing a unilateral approach and isolationist strategy has resulted in much of the tension seen today. While there are many examples, the most prominent example is that of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. This and several other issues are addressed in the evolution of U.S. foreign policy after the Cold War with Russia, China, and France.

In my thesis, I analyze the foreign policy of George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama in 1989-2010. Upon comparing their China policies, I concluded that the approach of the United States to China is inconsistent, mainly due to the changing patterns of power, conflicting value systems and the growing importance of commercial interests in the relationship.