The tale of allies and enemies: China and U.S.A

The tale of frenemies is not something to be ignored as it can result in the next world war. China and America are among the top powerful countries and always competing for superiority over the world. Not one decision made by any of the two goes by without affecting the whole world.

America China relation history

The U.S and China share history which dates back to the Second World War:

They were allies back then fighting against the common enemy “Imperial Japan” but things have changed in the recent past when the U.S decided to oppose China’s wrongdoings all over the world, the relations between the two took a U-turn and they are basically becoming enemies now. To understand the whole thing between the two, let’s open a few chapters of history books first.

1945

In the 19^th century, China was considered one of the best civilizations in the whole world but being a neighbor of Japan who was gaining power and winning every battle was not easy. China also fought some battles in the 19^th century but never won any, not a single one of them in fact, there will always be a debate if it was fortunate for the world seeing current China or unfortunate for the Chinese people who suffered a lot at that time being tortured, raped, killed, and experimented on by the Japanese. Historians believe that the Japanese experiments were more terrifying than any of the Nazi’s experiments. Japan captured all the important places in China by invading and winning every time.

During the Second World War, China America relations first came under limelight when they fought against the mighty Japanese and Japan made a big mistake by destroying The Pearl Harbor which led to the nuclear bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The bombing was the prime reason Japan decide to surrender to America and hence, China got its freedom and became allies with the Americans.

1949

After their freedom from the Japanese, China becomes whole again and in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party established the People’s Republic of China after defeating the Nationalist government which was backed by the American government. The relations between the U.S and China came to the brink when North Korea supported by China and Russia invaded South Korea. The U.S and the U.N came to the rescue of the South and that forced China to retaliate.

1956

After a few years, the U.S decided to lift the navy blockade from Taiwan. China has always been hungry to occupy territories which don’t belong to them when U.S removed the blockade china saw the opportunity to get a hold on the islands of the Taiwan Strait and moved their troops in the area that started shelling in and out of the islands. The U.S again anticipated it and threatened to attack China with Nuclear weapons which finally led china to negotiate with the U.S.

1964

History has a tendency to be forgotten and the same did happen with China, they forgot how it feels to be tortured and they did the same with the Tibet and controlled it for many years and when Tibetan resistance started, China killed thousands due to which the U.S has to interfere again. U.S condemned the actions of China and accused them of violating Human rights. After the Second World War, America was the only one who was trying to control China to stop its inhuman doings to other neighboring countries. The only thing China was afraid of America was a nuclear attack but in 1964 during China’s venture to capture Vietnam, China tested its atomic bomb and got the very thing they were afraid of.

After 1969

China’s inhuman doings, the difference over security, ideology, development policies and industrialization policies from the world which was called China’s Great Leap Forward is the main reason behind how did china America relations changed after 1969. Once the Chinese ping pong team invited the American team to China to which the U.S team and some American journalists were allowed in China which was the first time since 1949 any American was allowed to set foot on Chinese soil. It resulted in some warming of relations between the two.

As a result of the better relations, the U.S secretary of the state made a trip to China and shortly after that the U.S president spent 8 days in China which helped in improving the relations even more and hence a few contracts are signed between the two which improved the American Chinese trade relations.

1972

U.S President Jimmy Carter granted China full diplomatic recognition. Shortly after this, Chinese vice-president paid a visit to America and America provided Taipei with defensive arms without violating the U.S One China Policy.

1989

Thousands of students hold demonstrations in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, demanding democratic reforms and an end to corruption to which the Chinese government reacted by sending military troops and killing hundreds of protesters. The U.S condemned these aggressive actions against the students and terminated the Military sales to China and freezes relations with China.

1999

NATO accidentally bombs Chinese embassy in Belgrade during its campaign against Serbian forces which shook the U.S-Shino relations again. However, NATO and U.S did offer apologies for the intelligence mistakes that led to bombings but still protests against the U.S happened in China and U.S property was being attacked by the protestors. It was not justified what any of the two did but it was just a mistake on one end and willing full actions on the other, you be the judge of the wrong.   

2000

Bill Clinton, the U.S president signed the U.S-China Relations Act of 2000  granting normal trade relations with the U.S which opened the way for China to join the World Trade Organization. Another incident was just waiting at the doorstep to shake the relations between the two. Actually what happened was a U.S plane collided with a Chinese fighter and made an emergency landing in Chinese territory. The Chinese detain the 24 member crew and after 12 days and a tense stand-off between the authorities, the crew was released.

During all the years, the trade between the two countries rises from 5 billion to 231 billion dollars.

By the year 2008, China became the largest holder of U.S debt or treasuries at around 600 billion dollars surpassing Japan. Everybody knew that something is going to go down and it did, the big recession that shook the world and with that another surprise came, China became the world’s second-largest economy after U.S surpassing Japan.

2010

We have already discussed the wrongdoings of China against the whole world; please do take a look to understand this whole thing. Actually, 2010-11 were the years when China’s wrongdoings first surfaced to the world; U.S, European Union and Japan filed a “request for consultations” with China at WTO over its various restrictions and unfair trading with others. China called this move “unfair and rash” while vowing to defend its right in trade.

2013

The start of new friendship again, New president of China “Xi Jinping” was invited by President Barrack Obama to America to which Xi couldn’t say no and hence the talks started of building a better relationship again. Surely not going to last long seeing their recent past and it happened in just one year or so. Actually, a U.S court found evidence against Chinese hackers who were tied to China’s People’s Liberation Army for stealing trade tech from U.S companies. China acted aggressively as it always did and suspended its work in the U.S-China cyber security working group. Hence, the relations again took a U-turn.

In 2014, the U.S found some Satellite images of China placing military equipment in the South China Sea to which U.S secretary in a conference asked China to halt its land reclamation in the South China Sea like China will listen to it but still, it was important to at least let China know that somebody is keeping an eye on them.

China-America relations now

The relations between the two have been of this kind from the beginning sometimes becoming the best of allies and helping each other grow and other times fighting over simple things which might take both a few steps back in the development process. America’s One China Policy which is 4 decades old was also a tactic to negotiate with China in which U.S has formal ties with People’s Republic of China but also maintained unofficial ties with Taiwan. The policy is basically finding a win-win situation for both sides. According to the policy, America only believed that there is only one China, no other Taiwan or other provinces.

The new president of United States “Mr. Donald Trump” was also keen to have a great relationship with China. Chinese President Xi was invited to a 2-day summit in America and both presidents sign a ten-part agreement to expand trade of products between the two countries. The relationship was reaching new heights but again at the same time China was accused of economic aggression, and Vice-president of U.S condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea and also accused China of stealing American intellectual data and interfering in the U.S elections.

China’s ministry again threatened the U.S-China’s ties and called the accusations baseless.

2018

A new plot unfolded when CFO of Chinese tech giant Huawei was arrested in Canada at the U.S’s request. He was accused by the U.S of violating trade sanctions and committed fraud, U.S requested his extradition. As China is and always has been, China arrested two Canadian citizens and accused them of undermining China’s national security. These are the cheap tactics of China which got everyone’s eyes. Even Huawei got to war and banned U.S federal agencies from using their equipment. President Trump who is known for his aggressive nature didn’t hold back and called the world to hold their deals with Huawei as Chinese government could use the Company to spy on anyone. Well, it resulted badly for China as many countries did hold their 5G deals with HUAWEI.

2019

America China economic history is around 6-7 decades old and it has seen a new chapter of Trade war; started between the U.S and China. Trump found the cheap tactics of China which are well explained in our blog “Can World trust China” and announced high tariffs on imports from China. As a result, China’s Central Bank lets the Yuan weaken for its own benefits which don’t go unnoticed and trump gave them the tag of “Currency Manipulator”.

President Trump also signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy act. It gave a right to U.S to check on Hong Kong who was kept under the nose of Beijing, Hong Kong people cherished the law. The time was to see how China responds to all this and it has always been from China’s side, they acted aggressively by suspending U.S warships visits to Hong Kong and imposing sanctions on U.S based organizations.

2020

This year began with a pandemic, U.S put the blames of the pandemic on China to which China declines playing the victim card but it all became a war between the two. The relations between the countries have seen their ups and downs but these are the times of desperation, the relations between the two have never been this worse since ages. Trump was often seen calling it Chinese virus on the state and world media.

The U.S ordered closing China’s Consulate in Houston, Texas calling it the hub of espionage and property theft. U.S also arrested two hackers who were trying to steal U.S research on COVID-19 and imposed new sanctions on Chinese companies for their roles in human rights abuses in Hong Kong. China doesn’t care if it right or wrong, they will return the favor and China also closed the U.S consulate in Chengdu.

In the latest news, the U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a speech titled “Communist China and the Free World’s Future”. He clearly established that the era of engagement with the Chinese Communist Party is over now.

So, basically, now the friends are enemies. This is the tale that started as friends and ending in enemies. This surely doesn’t concern many but if we look from the world’s perspective, these two countries hold great responsibilities for world peace although China is not known for any kind of peace looking at their neighbouring countries.

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