Developing Sino-American Relations

...As a practical matter, the American commitment is to the people on Taiwan and not to any particular verbal formula...

...In 1969, when developments in China-coupled with the demonstrable growth in Soviet conventional and strategic power-Suggested the appropriateness of a new American approach to Peking, I advocated that we attempt to put our relations on a less-rigid footing...

...It is not surprising, then, that a deep concern over Moscow's purposes and objectives has energized Peking's diplomatic activity during the past few years...

...China has a history of subtle, unemotional statecraft unparalleled by any other country...

...Our understanding of China's internal polities is vague and uncertain...

...We know, too, that this buildup coincided with the enunciation of the "Brezhnev Doctrine"-The Kremlin's justification for its 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia-Declaring the Soviets' right to invade any Socialist state...

...Current Chinese political literature leaves no doubt about the appropriate ranking of enemies: The Soviet Union is accused of using "shopworn gangster theories in a vain Henry M. Jackson, a previous contributor, is the junior Democratic Senator from the state of Washington...

...We can be sure that the Chinese mission in Washington will use to the fullest the advantages of operating in an open society, and will actively appeal to the American public...

...The subsequent opening of "liaison offices" in Peking and Washington indicates that a stable relationship recognizing the problem of Taiwan's future has now been established, though it falls short of formal diplomatic ties...

...Early this year I recommended taking that step, provided the future of the people on Taiwan not be prejudiced...

...The real issue was never whether China "really existed," or whether the Communist world was a "monolith...

...On the whole, the reorientation of America's China policy has been a positive development...

...Similarly, "recognizing" Peking as the government of all China sometime in the future would not oblige us to acquiesce in the forceable incorporation of Taiwan into the People's Republic...

...In weighing how future Sino-American ties might affect Taiwan, it is important to keep some distinctions in mind...

...And we know, finally, that the Chinese regard the Doctrine as proof of the Soviet Union's transformation from a Socialist to a "social imperialist" state...

...I think, therefore, that the Chinese will respect us the more if we approach Sino-American relations with a certain amount of our own Yankee reserve...

...These are important questions, because no arms control arrangement can long survive without China's participation...

...With virtually all students of world politics agreeing that the degeneration of the Sino-Soviet alliance into mutual and bitter hostility is a development of profound importance, the subject has attracted increasing attention and examination...

...For many years, the Chinese have had available to them both Soviet and American thinking and writing on this important subject, but the West has had little access to Chinese views on the military and political meaning of nuclear weapons, and the implications of the existence of several nuclear powers for the global balance of power...

...attempt to defend its own aggressive acts," of having consistently carried out expansion and aggression abroad," and of being "even more deceitful than old-line imperialist countries, and therefore more dangerous...

...The question was-and should continue to be-what sort of American posture toward China will best further our national purposes, particularly our concern for long-term peace and stability...

...Nonetheless, we must remember that the People's Republic remains a society whose governmental structure and methods rest on a philosophy antithetical to the democratic tradition, including our belief in individual liberty...

...Later events-armed clashes along the Sino-Soviet border, the admission of the People's Republic to the UN and President Nixon's visit to China-brought us directly to the question of establishing formal diplomatic relations...

...For much in the Chinese tradition parallels the sentiments expressed by Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard: "Great Goodnature, without Prudence, is a great Misfortune...

...From the 18th century until quite recently, the distant land was more an object of fascination than a subject for serious study in the U.S...

...As for the second step, the Chinese are told they should "unite with all peace-loving countries and people . . . especially to expose the Soviet revisionist scheme of sham relaxation but real expansion...

...Of particular significance in any dialogue will be an exploration of Chinese concepts about strategic stability...

...In November of that year, I proposed exchanging journalists and scientists, regularizing communications links, lowering trade barriers, and inviting Peking to participate in the multilateral arms talks then underway in Geneva...

...That done, the principal enemy must be defined as narrowly as possible so that a "united front" can be formed to isolate and destroy him...

...They were never happy about the Western system of international relations imposed on them until 1950...

...It may well have opened the way to greater stability in a conflict-ridden part of the world, and may have stimulated the establishment of a more durable international balance...

...We need a formula for restoring stability in Southeast Asia, with the Chinese playing a positive role...

...Yet we do not maintain that Taiwan controls events on the mainland, or that it should use military force to exercise its "legal writ...

...with much justification, they viewed it as a one-way street, where foreigners not only derived the lion's share of the benefits but dominated the political life of their country as well...

...In principle, U.S...

...In fact, from the Chinese point of view, most of the humiliations inflicted upon them by the "Western imperialists" prior to 1950 have been squared, while the Soviets-The "new Tsars" in Chinese parlance-continue to hold large parts of what Peking regards as lerra Sinica...

...And in 1971, I argued that, instead of trying to delay Peking's admission to the United Nations, we should think of ways to utilize a Chinese presence in the UN to improve relations with Peking...

...During the so-called Cultural Revolution of the mid-'60s, the Chinese political system became unintelligible to outside observers, and other governments could only await the appearance of a more stable political order capable of acting on foreign policy matters...

...Indeed, today the People's Republic of China sees the Soviet Union as a dangerous enemy...

...We should explore genuinely reciprocal exchanges of people and ideas-Even something as simple as a formal end to the Chinese jamming of radio broadcasts -and our representatives should press for the broadest possible access to the Chinese people and the Chinese governmental structure...

...One important task of our diplomatic mission will be to broaden our perspective on these questions...

...Thus we know that the Soviets have built up an unprecedented peacetime arsenal of nuclear and conventional forces in the Far East...

...After 1950, "New China" adopted a posture of opposition to the West, but participation in the Communist alliance did not prove more satisfactory...

...Accordingly, public concern about it tended to be more emotional than political, and the transition from World War II ally to Korean War enemy made "China" a deeply divisive issue...

...The truth is that since the "opening of China" in the mid-19th century, mutually acceptable and durable relations with the Chinese have been hard to achieve...

...The seeds of Sino-Soviet hostility, however, predate the appearance of Leonid Brezhnev by several centuries...

...According to Chairman Mao Tse-tung, politics consists of "contradictions" and the astute leader must determine which of them is most important at a given moment...

...To Americans, meanwhile, the frontier between the two is coming to overshadow such familiar "lines of international tension" as the Berlin Wall, the 38th parallel and the Suez Canal...

...Now that some of the immediate procedural obstacles have been removed, the way should be clearer for the consideration of more substantive questions...

...we know even less about how the "modernization" of this ancient land will affect its attitude toward the world at large...

...The People's Republic maintains that Soviet control over much of Central Asia and vast tracts east of the Ussuri River (including Vladivostock) is based on "unequal," hence illegal, 19th-century treaties...

...At the moment, the U.S.'s juridical view is that the Republic of China on Taiwan is the "legal" government of all China...

...policy has always favored improved relations with China...

...The United States, in particular, had to assess both the degree to which Chinese diplomacy-whatever its rhetoric-was prepared to become "conventional," and the willingness of Peking to play a constructive role in the settlement of outstanding international disputes...