US-China Relations

The relationship between the two countries has been complex, and varied from positive to highly
negative. After 1980 the economic ties grew rapidly. The relationship is of economic
cooperation, hegemonic rivalry in the Pacific, and mutual suspicion over each other's intentions.
Therefore, each nation has adopted a wary attitude regarding the other as a potential adversary but
has meanwhile maintained an extremely strong economic partnership. It has been described by
world leaders and academics as the world's most important bilateral relationship of the 21st
century.

As of 2021, the United States has the world's largest economy and China has the second
largest although China has a larger GDP when measured by PPP. Historically, relations between the
two countries have generally been stable with some periods of open conflict, most notably during
the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Currently, the United States and China have mutual political,
economic, and security interests, such as the proliferation of nuclear weapons, but there are
unresolved concerns relating to the role of democracy in government in China and human rights in
China. China is the second largest foreign creditor of the United States, after Japan. The two
countries remain in dispute over territorial issues in the South China Sea.

Relations with China began slowly until the 1845 Treaty of Wangxia. The US was allied to
the Republic of China during the Pacific War against Japan 1941-1945 but, after
the Communist victory in Mainland China during the Chinese Civil War, fought a major armed
conflict with the People's Republic of China in the Korean War and did not establish relations for 25
years, until President Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China. Since Nixon's visit, every US president, with
the exception of Jimmy Carter, has toured China. Relations with China have strained under
President Barack Obama's Asia pivot strategy. Despite tensions during his term, the Chinese
population's favourability of the US stood at 51% in Obama's last year of 2016, only to fall during
the Trump administration. According to a 2020 survey by the Pew Research Centre, 22% of
Americans have a favourable view of China, with 73% expressing an unfavourable view, one of the
most negative perceptions of China. The poll also found that 24% (plurality) of Americans see China
as the top threat to the US. Furthermore, a survey of Chinese public opinions also found a
corresponding decrease in favourability towards the US, with 61% expressing an unfavourable view.

The relationship deteriorated sharply under President Donald Trump, whose administration labelled

China a "strategic competitor" starting with the 2017 National Security Strategy. In 2018, the U.S.
Department of Justice initiated a "China Initiative" to "combat economic espionage". One of the first
studies of the impact of the initiative was published in 2020, concluding that how the initiative
operates unfairly stigmatizes researchers of Chinese ethnicity, through implying "threat by
association."  It subsequently launched a trade war against China, banned US companies from selling
equipment to Huawei and other companies linked to human rights abuses in Xinjiang, increased visa
restrictions on Chinese nationality students and scholars and designated China as a currency
manipulator. During the Trump administration, and especially since the US-China trade war began,
political observers have started to warn that a new cold war is emerging. Michael D. Swaine warned
in 2019, "The often positive and optimistic forces, interests, and beliefs that sustained bilateral ties
for decades are giving way to undue pessimism, hostility, and a zero-sum mind-set in almost every
area of engagement." By May 2020 the relationship had deteriorated to the lowest point as both
sides were recruiting allies to attack the other regarding guilt for the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.