3. US-China Relations – 1968-82

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we think about the development of relations between China and the United States between 1968-82, focusing in particular on: (i) the moves made by Nixon from 1968 onwards to establish a closer relationship with China, his relaxation of a trade embargo against the PRC, the role played by Pakistan in acting as a go-between, Kissinger’s secret visit in 1971, Nixon’s own visit in 1972; (ii) the status of Taiwan and the ‘solution’ represented by the 1972 Shanghai Communique; (iii) the delay in the establishment of formal relations between the US and China following Nixon’s resignation in 1974 and Ford’s failure to win the election in 1976; (iv) President Carter’s stance on Taiwan; (v) President Reagan’s stance on Taiwan, culminating in the Third Communique (17 August 1982); and (v) where the Taiwan issue stands today.

Course

In this course, Professor Frank Ching (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) explores the development of Chinese society, politics and economics during the rule of Deng Xiaoping, sometimes referred to as the ‘Opening of China’. In the first module, we think about the state of China following Mao’s death in 1976, Deng’s attempts to consolidate power, and the some of his early economics reforms. In the second module, we think about the development of the Chinese economy under Deng Xiaoping, before turning in the third and fourth modules to track the evolution of US-China relations in between 1968-96. In the fifth module, we think about political developments in China between 1979-97, before turning in the sixth module to consider China’s position in the world at the time of Deng’s death in 1997.

Lecturer

Frank Ching is a writer and university lecturer who has written and commented on events in Asia, particularly China, for many years. He worked for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Far Eastern Economic Review. He opened The Wall Street Journal’s bureau in China in 1979, after the normalization of U.S.-China relations, thus becoming one of the first four American newspaper reporters to be based in Beijing since 1949.

His articles have appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, World Policy Journal, China Quarterly, Current History, the Washington Quarterly, and other publications.

He has given speeches across the United States, including delivering the Inaugural Lecture of the Ravenholt-Severyns Lecture at the University of Washington. He was the inaugural lunch speaker at the annual Chiefs of Defense Mission sponsored by the Commander in Chief, Pacific, in Honolulu.

He received a bachelor’s degree in English from Fordham University, a master’s degree in philosophy from New York University and a Certificate in Advanced International Reporting from Columbia University as a Ford Foundation Fellow.