Recently, the tension between China and US have introduced newer and harder challenges. China and the US are major trading partners but the recent tremendous growth in China¡¯s economic and military power is seen as a threat by the US. This is because US sees this as a threat to its superpower status with the China being a rising global power.?
This hostility between the two nations have existed for many decades with one prominent time period being during the Korean war. The Soviet backed North Korean Army which invaded South Korea on June 25 1950. The United Stated and United Nations rushed to support South Korea whereas China supported North Korea along with the Soviet Union because they all follow communism. This war lasted for 3 years with 4 million people dead because of it. The conflict and hostility between China and US rooted strong from this time itself.
The US and USSR (Russia) having strained relationship for a long time has also contributed to the China-US hostile relationship. This is because China and Russia are communist brothers who have a very good relationship. One sign of an improved relationship between the two nations was when President Richard Nixon spent 8 days in China in February 1972. During this meeting, President Nixon met Chairman Mao and signs the Shanghai Communique with the Premier Zhou Enlai. This communique set the stage for improved US-China relations which allowed them to discuss complicated issues like Taiwan (US was in support of Taiwan which further strained the US-China relations).?
President Clinton signed the US-China Relations Act of 2000 in October which gave way for normal trade in Beijing. This also paved the way for China to join the World Trade Organisation in 2001.Their trade improved so much that China rose and surpassed Mexico to become USA¡¯s second biggest trade partner after Canada.?
In March 2023, there is a growing Sin-American tension over the war in Ukraine, the uncertain fate of Taiwan, the disputes in the South China Sea and economic decoupling among the other challenges. Ever since China took over Japan and became the world¡¯s second largest economy, the US has steadily become way of China. China¡¯s rapid growth is seen as a challenge to the US hegemony which has resulted in the strained relations between the two countries. Both the countries have a mutual mistrust which leads them to believe that the other is working towards undermining the interests of its own.?
The topic of Taiwan is very sensitive to the two countries in the recent years and the visit of Nansi Pelosi on August 2 2022 was a clear sign that US supports Taiwan and is against Taiwan becoming a part of China which breaches the Chinese ¡°One China Policy¡±.
On June 3rd, 2023, the US Navy has released a video of an unsafe interaction in the Taiwan Strait in which a Chinese Warship crossed in front of a US destroyer in the waterway. This happened amidst the deteriorating US-China relations which makes it worse. The US claimed that the USS Chung-Hoon, a destroyer was conducting a routine transit of the strait on Saturday when the Chinese ship cut in front of the US vessel coming within 137 metres near it. This happening when the relationship between the two nations are so fragile lets us know that that the future relationship is unclear would not be smooth sailing.