U.S. President Richard Nixon visited China from February 21-28, 1972, a trip that concluded with a rapprochement between China and the United States. The handshake from across the Pacific Ocean put an end to the confrontation that had haunted the two countries since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949.

On February 28, the day Nixon wrapped up his tour, a joint communique was issued in Shanghai, known as the Shanghai Communique. The relaxation in China-U.S. tensions had profound repercussions in the international community, as Western media hailed Nixon's stay in China as "the week that changed the world." Thirty-five eventful years have passed since then.

Extraordinary expansion

The depth, breadth and maturity of China-U.S. relations today are beyond the wildest estimations 35 years ago. Take trade for example. Bilateral trade was next to zero in 1972. In 2006, however, the trade volume was expected to exceed $260 billion, according to Chinese customs statistics. The two countries are each other's second largest trading partners with a high economic interdependence. The foundations on which the edifice of bilateral cooperation is built have been greatly expanded.

China-U.S. relations exhibited a distinctive character at the very beginning. Unlike most diplomatic documents, which tend to focus on common ground, the Shanghai Communique mainly deals with differences. China and the United States devoted two thirds of the communique to stating their respective positions. What they had in common only takes up a small fraction of the document. In this way, they succeeded in shelving the sensitive question of Taiwan, thereby reaching a solid consensus on the strategic issue of opposing Soviet hegemony, which paved the way for the development of their relations in the years to come.

China and the United States improved bilateral relations out of their own considerations. China wanted to lessen the Soviet Union's security pressure on its northern border with the support of the United States, raise its international standing and gain an upper hand in the wrangling across the Taiwan Strait. The United States intended to find a new lever against the Soviet Union, extricate itself from the catastrophe in Viet Nam and reshape China according to its ideology.

Judging from the current state of affairs, both countries have fulfilled their goals. What's more, the improvement in China-U.S. relations has yielded additional bonuses. It helped put the Cold War to an earlier end with a U.S. victory, facilitated China's reform and brought about stability and development in Asia. Good relations between China and the United States are important "public goods" that benefit Asia as a whole.

Two conclusions can be drawn as we review China-U.S. relations over the past years. First, the two countries share a wide range of common interests, which lay the groundwork for the sustained development of bilateral relations. Second, the governments' cooperative policies are vital in this regard.

Given the delicate issues between the two countries, such as Taiwan, China-U.S. relations are extremely complicated. To realize the stable development of this relationship calls for close attention from the leaders and insightful peoples of the two countries as well as a strong political will.

The Taiwan dilemma

The Taiwan issue is a focal point discussed in the three joint communiques that constitute the framework of China-U.S. relations-the Shanghai Communique, the Joint Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations (1979) and the China-U.S. August 17 Communique (1982).

China's basic position on the Taiwan issue is to achieve the final reunification peacefully. Before that goal is reached, it will be an important aspect of China's diplomacy to prevent Taiwan from formally breaking away from China.

The United States was involved in China's civil war, and continues to be Taiwan's most important external supporter today. Given these factors, the Taiwan issue has become one of the most crucial issues between China and the United States.

China and the United States entered into an arrangement acceptable to both with the signing of the three joint communiques, in which the former reaffirmed its "one-China principle" while the latter established a "one-China policy." However, shortly after the two countries formally established diplomatic relations on January 1, 1979, the U.S. Government adopted the Taiwan Relations Act under pressure from pro-Taiwan congressmen. This domestic legislation, which runs counter to the three joint communiques, is the legal source of the Taiwan issue that continues to affect China-U.S. relations today.

The Taiwan issue was marginalized in China-U.S. relations from 1972 to 1989. However, it has resurfaced since 1989 amid the emergence of politicians advocating independence in Taiwan.

Since the second half of 2003, the U.S. Government has been more wary of and exercised greater restraint on radical "Taiwan independence" views, as it comes to realize that the trend is not in the strategic interests of the United States. However, given its inconsistent and two-pronged policy toward Taiwan, the United States has only a limited capacity to check "Taiwan independence." With "Taiwan independence" fundamentalists pushing for an essential independence of the island in 2007, the Taiwan issue is likely to exert a greater influence over China-U.S. relations than ever before.

New characteristics

The history of China-U.S. relations since the rapprochement in 1972 can be roughly divided into two periods. During the Cold War, bilateral relations had a solid strategic foundation. Faced with the common threat of the Soviet Union, they had a firm determination to cooperate. However, the range of cooperation was not broad, mainly in the field of security. The 1980s witnessed the "golden era" of China-U.S. security cooperation. At one time, China was regarded as "NATO's 16th quasi-ally."

Since the end of the Cold War, while undergoing pronounced fluctuations, China-U.S. relations have taken on a more reasonable structure. A number of characteristics have stood out:

- Internal factors have come to determine whether cooperation or confrontation will dominate bilateral relations.

- The development of political and economic relations is uneven, with political relations constantly going through twists and turns and economic relations making steady headway.

- The governments play a less dominant role in the development of bilateral relations as non-governmental factors rise in influence.

- The power gap between the countries is narrowing.

- Elements in favor of the development of bilateral relations and those that hamper it coexist in each of the two countries.

- The influence of their relations has transcended the borders of the two countries to become a key factor affecting the international situation in the Asia-Pacific region.

- As both China and the United States, two "all-around champions," possess both hard power and soft power, their power comparison is rather balanced.

In general, the scope of relations between China and the United States is much larger than it was during the Cold War. Their relationship today is a kind of big power relationship that is complicated and mature.

It is interesting to note that each U.S. administration since the end of the Cold War has tended to adjust its policy toward China over time. Bill Clinton attacked the administration of George H.W. Bush for its China policy during his election campaign in 1992. In the early days of his presidency, he linked the human rights issue to China-U.S. trade relations. As this approach proved futile, he first switched to an "engagement policy" and then proposed establishing a "constructive strategic partnership gearing toward the 21st century" during his visit to China in 1998.

In his 2000 campaign, George W. Bush strongly condemned Clinton's policy toward China, asserting that China is a "strategic competitor" of the United States. However, after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, his administration made a positive change in its China policy by laying out the three "Cs"-candid, constructive and cooperative. In September 2005, then Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick described China as a "stakeholder," which is a more pragmatic definition of China's status.

At present, the United States practices a strategy of "hedging engagement" toward China, with engagement being the focus. As China gains comprehensive national power, engagement will increasingly become the only policy option the United States has when dealing with China.

Promising future

While the United States is the sole superpower, China is rapidly rising in the world. The reason for the coexistence of China's rise and U.S. hegemony is that China's development is achieved in an international system led by the United States. China has generally accepted this system, joined it and benefited from it. China's participation has in turn helped strengthen the leading status of the United States.

The China-U.S. relationship is the most important and complicated big power relationship in the 21st century-important because it determines whether international relations in this century will be confrontational or cooperative and complicated because strategic conflicts still haunt the two countries, one being a newly emerging big power and the other an existing big power.

At the same time, the need for bilateral cooperation is growing. China and the United States can work together on antiterrorism, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, regional hotspot issues such as North Korea, Iran and Kashmir, UN reform, maintaining regional and global financial stability, curbing drug trafficking, checking cross-border crimes, slowing down global climate change, and preventing the spread of SARS, bird flu and other epidemics, to name just a few.

The point is that China-U.S. relations should always be cast in a constructive light. For example, the quest for oil may be both a potential point of contention between the two countries and an opportunity for them to collaborate on developing new sources of energy.

Trade disputes between China and the United States are derived from their expanding and deepening trade relations. Instead of politicizing them, the two countries should seek to resolve them according to international conventions. As the Democrats took control of the U.S. Congress after the 2006 mid-term elections, it has yet to be observed to what extent U.S. trade protectionism will affect China-U.S. relations.

Although the China-U.S. relationship will not be free from trouble in the coming years, we are confident about its long-term development. Globalization, which makes countries more interdependent, has increased the costs of confrontational policies. Its uncertainties and problems, the threat of terrorism in particular, call for strengthened cooperation between different countries. The existing international organizations and regimes provide a multilateral platform for resolving conflicts.

Over the past 35 years, China and the United States have put in place fairly efficient communication and crisis management mechanisms. Also, it is a consistent policy of the Chinese Government to forge a constructive partnership with the United States. As China's power continues to grow, the overall stability of China-U.S. relations is set to be enhanced.