Allen S. Whiting

Chinese Nationalism and Foreign Policy After Deng

As the Deng era approaches its end, concern abroad, particularly in East Asia, focuses on how the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) will cope with territorial disputes with Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and India, and the continued quest for Taiwan. Meanwhile Chinese military modernization steadily increases the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) air and sea power projection. The question arises: might a beleaguered post-Deng leadership seek to strengthen its legitimacy through exploitation of Chinese nationalism and if so, how would this manifest itself in foreign relations?

China's Use of Force, 1950–96, and Taiwan

The collision of a U.S. EP-3 reconnaissance plane with a Chinese military aghter on April 1, 2001, focused attention anew on Beijing’s willingness to risk the use of force in pursuit of political objectives. The effort to deter U.S. intelligence oights over China’s exclusive economic zone brought Chinese jets within dangerous proximity of U.S. aircraft. This raised the arst tension in the Taiwan Strait since China’s missile tests in 1995–96. That had occasioned the dispatch of two U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups toward the vicinity of Taiwan. More recently, China undertook a steady buildup of missiles across from Taiwan. This, together with greater emphasis on East Asian security by George W. Bush and his administration, justiaes reexamination of the circumstances under which China used military force for deterrence or coercion from 1950 to 1996. What patterns, if any, emerged during this period? To what extent are they likely to continue or change with respect to Taiwan in the coming years? How will the advent of high-technology weapons affect China’s decision to use force in the future, particularly against Taiwan? My study, The Chinese Calculus of Deterrence: India and Vietnam, addressed some of these questions but was largely inferentially based on intelligence materials. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, newly opened archives in Moscow provided authoritative documents on Sino-Soviet relations, and the Korean War in particular. Recent Chinese collections of primary materials, sup-

The PLA and China′s Threat Perceptions *

Because this volume focuses on the People′s Liberation Army (PLA), only those threat perceptions directly relevant to the presence of Chinese military force are addressed in this article. The problems of ideological unity, legitimacy of the regime, and other political or economic threats to the People′s Republic are excluded insofar as they do not call on the PLA. Nor are general foreign policy stratagems for dealing with Moscow, Tokyo, New Delhi and Washington under review, let alone regions beyond China′s capacity to project military power.

China and Japan: Politics Versus Economics:

Sino-Japanese relations suffer from the heritage of Chinese bitterness over Japanese expansionism and aggression. This has put a political burden on economic complementarity that places Japan foremost in Chinas economic modernization in terms of trade, loans, and aid, and second in investment. In addition to the political burden, the economic interdependence is highly asymmetrical, being far more valuable for China than for Japan. Since the Tiananmen massacre, however, economic pragmatism has prevailed in Beijing as a result of Tokyos muting its criticism of the event and moving to lift sanctions imposed by the Western industrial capitals. Yet Chinese memory and suspicion, heightened by a dispute over islands in the East China Sea, remain.

Sino-Soviet Relations: What Next?

Chinas three demands for normalization of Sino-Soviet relations are not likely to win Soviet compliance. Only a modest reduction of the 480,000 Soviet troops opposite China is possible, but not removal of the 125 SS-20 missiles and 60 Backfire bombers, which have regional and global strategic significance. No Soviet concessions on Afghanistan or Vietnam-Kampuchea are expected. Ideology is no longer an issue between Moscow and Beijing as during Maos time, but conflicts in national interest deadlock negotiations. Meanwhile, increased Sino-Soviet trade and travel reflect improved state relations. A further improvement could serve U.S. interests in Korea, Indochina, and arms control without jeopardizing U.S. and allied security interests elsewhere. Sino-Soviet relations are, however, basically independent of American influence and should not determine Sino-American relations.

China, Taiwan, Japan, the United States, and the World . Edited by Kenneth W. Thompson. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1998. xv, 210 pp.

China, Taiwan, Japan, the United States and the World is the fifth volume in the Miller Centers series on Asian political leadership. As part of the Centers ongoing research program, recognized authorities participate in forums, colloquia, and conferences. China, Taiwan, Japan, the United States and the World provides valuable information on the economics, politics, and culture of Asian countries from theoretical and historical perspectives. In addition, the book predicts the future of these nations, their relations with the United States, and their role in the international arena.

27.50.

Thomas J. Christensen, Useful Adversaries: Grand Strategy, Domestic Mobilization, and Sino‐American Conflict, 1947–1958. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996. xiii, 319 pp./

Leaping the great wall between security and China studies

49.95 cloth.

The Man who Stayed Behind

The Man Who Stayed Behind is the remarkable account of Sidney Rittenberg, an American who was sent to China by the U.S. military in the 1940s. A student activist and labor organizer who was fluent in Chinese, Rittenberg became caught up in the turbulence that engulfed China and remained there until the late 1970s. Even with access to China’s highest leaders as an American communist, however, he was twice imprisoned for a total of sixteen years. Both a memoir and a documentary history of the Chinese revolution from 1949 through the Cultural Revolution, The Man Who Stayed Behind provides a human perspective on China’s efforts to build a new society. Critical of both his own mistakes and those of the Communist leadership, Rittenberg nevertheless gives an even-handed account of a country that is now free of internal war for the first time in a hundred years.

China's Future: Foreign Policy and Economic Development in the Post-Mao Era

Chinas future : foreign policy and economic development in the post-Mao era , Chinas future : foreign policy and economic development in the post-Mao era , کتابخانه دیجیتال و فن آوری اطلاعات دانشگاه امام صادق(ع)