Wang Hao, "From a Struggle for Institutions to an Economic Contest: Domestic Politics and the Evolution of America's China Policy(2009-2018),"
Journal of Contemporary Asia-Pacific Studies, No.1, 2019
【Abstract】:America's China Policy has always been a product of the twin logics of geopolitics and domestic politics. Following the end of the Cold War, as the structure of the international system became more unipolar, the importance of the geopolitical logic for the shaping of America's China policy was drastically reduced, while domestic politics became a much more critical driver of policy logic. As such, economics replaced security as the core theme in U.S.-China relations. Starting from the Obama administration, the U.S. and China entered into an era of strategic competition, and the role of geopolitics in setting the agenda for America’s China policy became much more prominent. Over the medium to long term, it is ultimately becoming the key variable in determining the nature of U.S.-China dynamics. While so, America’s China policy and the core themes of strategic competition in the U.S.-China relationship are still defined and re-defined periodically by America’s domestic politics. For example, with the transition from Obama to Trump, domestic political changes caused the core themes of U.S.-China relations to evolve from a form of competition constrained by liberal norms and manifested through multilateral institutions to one moored a realist logic of cooperative pressure and bilateral economic competition. As such, changes in America’s domestic politics might be seen as prism through which one can observe the future of trends in America’s China policy.

【Key Words】: Sino-U.S. Relations; Geopolitics; U.S. Domestic Politics; Strategic Competition; Trump Administration

【About the Author】: Wang Hao is a Lecturer at the Center for American Studies, Fudan University

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