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China-U.S. Relations: Current Issues and
Implications for U.S. Policy
Summary
U.S.-China relations have been remarkably smooth since late 2001, although
there are signs that U.S. China policy now is subject to competing reassessments.
State Department officials in 2005 unveiled what they said was a new framework for
the relationship - with the United States willing to work cooperatively with a non-
democratic China while encouraging Beijing to become a "responsible stakeholder"
in the global system. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in December 2006
established a U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue with Beijing, the most senior
regular dialogue yet held with China. But other U.S. policymakers have adopted
tougher stances on issues involving China and U.S.-China relations, concerned about
the impact of the PRC's strong economic growth and a more assertive PRC
diplomacy in the international arena. Another matter of growing concern is China's
increasing global "reach" and the consequences that expanding PRC international
influence has for U.S. interests. To feed its appetite for resources, China has been
steadily signing trade agreements, oil and gas contracts, scientific cooperation
agreements, and multilateral security arrangements with countries around the world,
some of which are key U.S. allies.
Taiwan, which China considers a "renegade province," remains the most
sensitive issue the two countries face and the one many observers fear could lead to
Sino-U.S. conflict. But U.S. relations with Taiwan have also been plagued by what
some U.S. officials see as that government's minimal military spending, its failure
to enact funding bills that allow it to purchase U.S. weapons offered for sale in 2001,
and the recurrent independence-leaning actions and rhetoric of its President and other
government officials, which U.S. officials have called "unhelpful" to regional
stability.
Much U.S. concern about China appears driven by security calculations in
Congress and at the Pentagon, where officials question the motivations behind
China's expanding military budget. A congressionally mandated DOD report
concluded Beijing is greatly understating its military expenditures and is developing
anti-satellite (ASAT) systems - a claim that gained more credence when the PRC
used a ballistic missile to destroy one of its own orbiting satellites in January 2007.
Bilateral economic and trade issues also are growing matters of concern. U.S.
officials and lawmakers particularly criticize China's massive bilateral trade surplus,
its failure to halt piracy of U.S. intellectual property rights (IPR), and its continued
constraints on currency valuation. More recently, allegations about the quality of
Chinese imports have raised growing concerns about the PRC's poor product safety
enforcement regime.
This report will be updated regularly as events warrant and will track legislative
initiatives involving China. For actions and issues in U.S.-China relations considered
during the 109th Congress, see CRS Report RL32804, China-U.S. Relations in the
109th Congress, by Kerry Dumbaugh.
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Dumbaugh, Kerry. China-U.S. Relations: Current Issues and Implications for U.S. Policy, report, November 9, 2007; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc805341/m1/2/: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.