HISTORY 1 ◄ In international relations, too, there's only one description for what, together, we have achieved: a complete turnabout, a revolution. ► Seven years ago, America was weak, and freedom everywhere was under siege. Today America is strong, and democracy is eve- rywhere on the move. From Central America to East Asia, ideas CS1 ◄ An overview of US foreign like free markets and democratic reforms and human rights are policy since 1945 ► taking hold. We've replaced "Blame America" with "Look up to How did -or didn’t, US foreign policy America." We've rebuilt our defenses. And of all our accomplish- evolve? ments, none can give us more satisfaction than knowing that our young people are again proud to wear our country's uniform. 1. Stability in goals & means And in a few moments, I'm going to talk about three develop- 2. Change : adapting to the context ments—arms reduction, the Strategic Defense Initiative, and the global democratic revolution—that, when taken together, offer a chance none of us would have dared imagine 7 years ago, a Structure chance to rid the world of the two great nightmares of the postwar era. I speak of the startling hope of giving our children a future free of both totalitarianism and nuclear terror. Tonight, then, we're strong, prosperous, at peace, and we are free. This is the state of our Union. And if we will work together this year, I believe we can give a future President and a future Con- gress the chance to make that prosperity, that peace, that freedom not just the state of our Union but the state of our world. President Reagan’s last State of the Union Address, January 25, 1988.

Jay "Ding" Darling, the New York Herald Tribune, 1947 Key notions At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice is too often not a free one. One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression. The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly im- posed upon the majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio; fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms. I believe that it must be the policy of the to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by Vocabulary outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way. I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid which is essential to economic stability and orderly political processes. The world is not static, and the status quo is not sacred. But we cannot allow changes in the status quo in violation of the Charter of the United Nations by such methods as coercion, or by such subterfuges as political infiltration. In helping free and independent nations to maintain their free- dom, the United States will be giving effect to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations. President Truman’s address before a joint session of Congress, 12 March 1947. “Berlin Wall 1989”, Sebastian, November 9, 1989. Let me start by being clear about where the United States stands. The HISTORY 1 United States occupies a unique position in world affairs today. We recog- ◄ nize that, and we welcome it. Yet, with the cold war over, I know many peo- ► ple ask whether the United States plans to retreat or remain active in the world and, if active, to what end. Many people are asking that in our own country as well. Let me answer that question as clearly and plainly as I can. CS1 ◄ An overview of US foreign The United States intends to remain engaged and to lead. We cannot solve policy since 1945 ► every problem, but we must and will serve as a fulcrum for change and a How did -or didn’t, US foreign policy pivot point for peace. evolve? In a new era of peril and opportunity, our overriding purpose must be to expand and strengthen the world's community of market-based democra- 1. Stability in goals & means cies. During the cold war we sought to contain a threat to the survival of free 2. Change : adapting to the context institutions. Now we seek to enlarge the circle of nations that live under those free institutions. For our dream is of a day when the opinions and energies of every person in the world will be given full expression, in a world of thriving democracies that cooperate with each other and live in peace. […] Structure We will work to strengthen the free market democracies by revitalizing our

economy here at home, by opening world trade through the GATT, the North

American Free Trade Agreement and other accords, and by updating our

shared institutions, asking with you and answering the hard questions about

whether they are adequate to the present challenges.

Address by President Bill Clinton to the UN General Assembly, September 27, 1993. “Hey boss…”, David Horsey, Post-Intelligencer, 1992

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice be-

tween our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, […]

drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man Key notions […]. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them

up for expedience's sake. And so to all the other peoples and

governments who are watching today, […] know that America is

a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who

seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead

once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and com-

munism not just with missiles and tanks but with sturdy alli-

ances and enduring convictions. They understood that our

power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as

we please. […]

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles Vocabulary once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort, even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense. And for those who seek to advance their aims by in- ducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken. You cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you. “What a difference a day makes...”, David Horsey, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2001. President Obama’s 1st Inaugural Address , January 20, 2009. HISTORY 1 ◄ In the simplest terms, what we are doing in Korea is this: We are trying to prevent a third world war. I think most people in this country recognized that fact last June. And ► they warmly supported the decision of the Government to help the Republic of Korea against the Communist aggressors. […] It is right for us to be in Korea. It was right last CS2 ◄ The US and the fight June. It is right today. against communism at the begin- I want to remind you why this is true. ning of the Cold War (late 1940s- The Communists in the Kremlin are engaged in a monstrous conspiracy to stamp out early 1950s) ► freedom all over the world. If they were to succeed, the United States would be num- How did the USA fight communism at bered among their principal victims. It must be clear to everyone that the United States home and abroad? cannot -and will not- sit idly by and await foreign conquest. […] The aggression against Korea is the boldest and most dangerous move the Commu- 1. The Cold War abroad : the Ko- nists have yet made. The attack on Korea was part of Communist imperialism greater rean war (1950-1953) plan for conquering all of Asia. It was the Soviet Union that trained and equipped the North Koreans for aggression. The Chinese Communists massed 44 well-trained and Structure well-equipped divisions on the Korean frontier. These were the troops they threw into battle when the North Korean Communists were beaten. « Harry Truman, Defends U.S. Policy, 1951» , Public Papers of the United States, Washington D.C., 1965.

The Korean War 1950-1953 The initial goal was to push North Korean troops back to the pre-war border at the 38th Parallel. After U.S. troops (cleverly placed under the banner of the United Nations) under Gen- eral MacArthur pushed the North Koreans back toward the 38th Parallel, the Pentagon and portions of the State Depart- Key notions ment wanted to change the goals of the war: to the defeat of North Korea and the unification of Korea under a non- communist government. On September 28, 1950, Truman approved this recommendation. The war had changed form containment to rollback. The United States helped draft the United Nations resolu- tion of October 7 1950, calling for a unified, independent and democratic government of Korea and for UN (read US) forces to remain in Korea as long as necessary. On October 8, “United Nations” troops crossed the 38th Parallel. But the rollback decision was a disaster. The northward drive of MacArthur's forces brought the Chinese into the war, Vocabulary the U.S. forces were again forced to the south of the 38th Parallel, and the was war ultimately concluded with the prior division into a communist North and an anti-communist South. […] Insubordinate to his Commander-in-Chief Harry Truman, MacArthur continued to make public statement supporting the rollback of North Korea and extension of the war to China. On April 10, 1951 Truman was forced to fire him causing a massive public outcry. Thomas Bodenheimer & Robert Gould, Rollback! Right-wing Power in U.S. Foreign Policy, Boston, 1989. From 1945 to 1950 relations between the United Propaganda comic book published by the In October 1947, ten subpoenaed Hollywood writers, produc- HISTORY 1 States and the Soviet Union went from alliance to Cold Catholic Catechetical Guild Educational ers and directors were cited for contempt of Congress for ◄ War. To make matters worse it seemed like the Sovi- Society, 1947. refusing to answer questions of the House Committee on Un- ► ets might be winning. In 1948 a communist govern- American Activities (HUAC) about their membership in the ment seized power in China, the world's most popu- Communist Party. The so-called Hollywood Ten based their lous country. The following year Moscow successfully refusal on First Amendment grounds. Challenging HUAC’s CS2 ◄ The US and the fight tested an atomic device of its own, and in 1950 troops right to inquire about their political beliefs and associations, against communism at the begin- from the Soviet satellite state of North Korea launched they condemned this inquiry as a witch-hunting attempt to ning of the Cold War (late 1940s- a war of aggression against South Korea. censor artistic freedom. HUAC responded aggressively, first early 1950s) ► How could these setbacks be explained? The arrest introducing evidence that the Ten held Communist Party How did the USA fight communism at and prosecution of a number of Soviet spies in the membership cards and then citing then for contempt. Two of home and abroad? United States seemed to provide at least a partial them, John Lawson and Dalton Trumbo, were successfully answer. Perhaps it was the activity of disloyal Ameri- prosecuted by the Justice Department and convicted in 1948. 2. The Cold War at home: anticom- cans that allowed China to "go communist," that The Hollywood Ten’s refusal to admit or deny Communist munism 1946-1954 handed Russia the bomb, and invited Stalin's puppets Party membership rendered them vulnerable to the charge in North Korea to attack their neighbors to the South. that their real purpose was to hide their involved in a foreign- Structure But what constituted disloyalty? Was it only to be de- directed conspiracy. Indeed, in November 1947, film industry fined as outright spying or sabotage? Might someone executives suspended the Hollywood Ten without pay and who belonged to the Communist Party be considered announced that none would be rehired until “he had been disloyal, whether or not he had committed any overt acquitted or declared under oath that he was not a Commu- act against the United States? And what about a nist.” The film executives also affirmed their future intent not to screenwriter who interjected pro-Soviet themes into a “knowingly” employ Communists. Hollywood movie, or a songwriter who criticized some ‘A Lawless Agency: The FBI and the Hollywood Ten’, Athan Theoharis, aspect of American society in one of his songs? Rhetoric and Public Affairs, Michigan State University Press, Fall 1999. “The Second Red Scare”, Anticommunism in Postwar America 1945-1954, EDSITEment!, 2010

Key notions It appears that Senator McCarthy has suffered a setback. His arrogance, patent contempt for Administration leaders, fellow senators, the law and the Constitution seem at last to have registered. […] It is indicative of the state of American democracy that official indignation was not sparked until he attacked a brigadier general. Even those Republicans who thought to use him to disrupt the Democratic Party and destroy popular attachment to the New Deal are fearful that they may not be able to con- trol the Senator. It is certainly a positive gain that in recent days a number of Republicans have finally found courage to attack McCarthy directly. Senator Flanders is sponsoring a resolution to deprive McCarthy of chairmanship*. Allen Vocabulary Dulles condemned his charges against the C.I.A. as completely false ; Attorney General Brownell attacked his network of personal spies in gov- ernment agencies ; and President Eisenhower warned against nameless “demagogues greedy for power”. While retaining a certain amount of scepticism regarding public opinion “It’s okay - We’re hunting communists”, , polls, it is probably valid to conclude that a large number of those who “I have here in my hand…”*, Herblock, The , October 31, 1947. one held “no opinion” have shifted over to the anti-McCarthy side. No one Washington Post, May 7, 1954. Herb Block comments: "The FBI, under J. Edgar with an once of sensitivity could have failed to be revolted by the bully-boy * Refers to the start of Senator Joseph Hoover, helped provide the HUAC with material. tactics of the Senator. McCarthy’s career. In February 1950, he Some producers, directors and screen writers Summing up the hearings, H. H. Wilson, The Nation, Saturday, July 3, 1954. captured headlines by claiming he held in refused to testify or to play the ‘name game' in * On December 2, 1954 the Senate censured McCarthy thus ending his investigation of his hand, a list of 205 communists in the which the HUAC demanded the names of associ- suspected communists. State Department which he did not reveal. ates, who could then be called on to name others thus providing an ever-expanding list of suspects." We will never give away our freedom. HISTORY 1 We will never abandon our belief in ◄ God. And we will never stop searching ► for a genuine peace, but we can see none of what America stands for in the so-called nuclear freeze solutions CS3 ◄ The US and the fight proposed by some. The truth is that a against communism at the end of freeze now would be a very dangerous the Cold War (the 1980s) ► fraud, for that is merely the illusion of How did the USA win the Cold War? peace. The reality is that we must find peace through strength. […] 1. The USA from confrontation to Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all S. Kelley, San Diego Union, 1983. Dana Summers, Orlando Sentinel, 1983. negotiation with the USSR of those who live in that totalitarian darkness. But until they do, let us be RONALD REAGAN was widely eulogized for having won the cold war, liberated Structure aware that while they preach the su- Eastern Europe and pulled the plug on the Soviet Union. Margaret Thatcher, Joe premacy of the State, declare its om- Lieberman, John McCain, Charles Krauthammer and other notables offered nipotence over individual man, and variations of The Economist's cover headline: ''The Man Who Beat Communism.'' predict its eventual domination of all Actually, Jack F. Matlock Jr. writes in ''Reagan and Gorbachev,'' it was ''not so peoples on the earth, they are the simple.'' He should know. A veteran foreign service officer and respected expert focus of evil in the modern world. […] on the Soviet Union, he reached the pinnacle of his career under Reagan, serving So, in your discussions of the nuclear first as the White House's senior coordinator of policy toward the Soviet Union, freeze proposals, I urge you to beware then as ambassador to Moscow. In both the title of his memoir and the story it the temptation of pride –the temptation tells, he gives co-star billing to Mikhail Gorbachev. […] of declaring yourselves above it all and President Reagan’s Star Wars, Matlock puts the best light he can on Reagan's dream of a Star Wars anti- label both sides equally at fault, to TIME, April 4, 1983. missile system, but he doesn’t claim, now an article of faith among many conser- ignore the facts of history and the The high-tech Strategic Defence Initiative vatives, that the prospect of an impregnable shield over the United States and an Key notion aggressive impulses of an evil empire, (SDI) was designed to shied the USA by arms race in space caused the Soviets to throw in the towel. Instead, Matlock to simply call the arms race a giant stopping incoming Soviet missiles in focuses on Reagan's attempt to convince Gorbachev that American defense misunderstanding and thereby remove space. policy posed no threat to legitimate Soviet interests and should therefore not yourself from the struggle between prevent the two leaders from establishing a high degree of mutual trust. right and wrong and good and evil. “Shutting the Cold War Down”, by Strobe Talbott, The New York Times, August 1, 2004. Ronald Reagan, Address to the National Association of Evangelicals, 8 March 1983.

TIME Magazine, Dec. With fervent calls for a new era of peaceful understanding, President Reagan 11, 1989 and Mikhail S. Gorbachev today signed the first treaty reducing the size of their The first meeting Between nations' nuclear arsenals. […] President G.H. Bush and Vocabulary The new treaty, which provides for the dismantling of all Soviet and American Mikhail Gorbachev in a medium- and shorter-range missiles, establishes the most extensive system of series of talks which would weapons inspection ever negotiated by the two countries, including placing techni- lead to the signing of the cians at sensitive sites on each other's territory. […] Strategic Arms Reductions The visit to Washington by Mr. Gorbachev was the first by a Soviet leader since Treaties, known as START I Leonid I. Brezhnev was here 14 years ago, and it took on immediate drama as Mr. and START II, agreements to Reagan, who entered office with deep suspicions of the Soviet Union, welcomed reduce the number of long- Mr. Gorbachev on the South Lawn of the White House. range nuclear weapons. An immediate mood of warmth was established as the two leaders agreed this START I was signed by the morning to call each other by their first names, a White House official said. USA and the USSR in 1991, “Reagan and Gorbachev Sign Missile Treaty and Vow to Work for Greater Reductions”, and was followed by the David K. Shipler, The New York Times, December 9, 1987 START II treaty with Russia in 1993. HISTORY 1 ◄ ►

CS3 ◄ The US and the fight against communism at the end of the Cold War (the 1980s) ► How did the USA win the Cold War?

2. The collapse of the Soviet model 1989 was a truly unforgettable year. Never before, has there been such a world-changing up- Structure heaval. One after another, faster and faster, nations have shaken off the chains of communist delu- sion and freed themselves from an imposed ideology that brought Market democracy in the Czech Republic, 1998 them nothing of what it had prom- ised. The nations of Europe have fully worked this miracle and News- week this year dedicated them its cover. But Der Spiegel selected a Soviet leader as "Man of the Year, Key notion Man of the Hour" and Time even awarded Mikhail Gorbachev the title of "Man of the Decade". In fact, Mikhail Gorbachev initi- ated the conditions for this revolu- tion to happen. Although he didn’t guess what his reforms of political glasnost and economic pere- stroika would trigger, he did not prevent the process once it was set in motion. By refusing to re- sort to traditional Soviet military Vocabulary interference, he allowed the col- lapse of one regime after another. “When the ice breaks…”, Der Spiegel, The collapse of communism January 1st, 1990. What is at stake is […] a big idea: a new world order, where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of HISTORY 1 mankind -- peace and security, freedom, and the rule of law. Such is a world worthy of our struggle and worthy of our children's future. […] ◄ US-led coalition The end of the cold war has been a victory for all humanity. […]. Europe has ► in the Gulf War, become whole and free, and America's leadership was instrumental in mak- 1991. ing it possible. Our relationship to the Soviet Union is important, not only to us The UN authorized but to the world. […] I want to continue to build a lasting basis for U.S.-Soviet ‘Member States co- CS4 ◄ The US and the world since cooperation -- for a more peaceful future for all mankind. […] operating with the 1991 ► For two centuries, America has served the world as an inspiring example of Government of How did the USA adjust to a chang- freedom and democracy. For generations, America has led the struggle to Kuwait […] to use ing world? preserve and extend the blessings of liberty. And today, in a rapidly changing all necessary world, American leadership is indispensable. Americans know that leadership means to […] 1. Multilateral interventionism : the brings burdens and sacrifices. But we also know why the hopes of humanity restore interna- Gulf War turn to us. We are Americans; we have a unique responsibility to do the hard tional peace and work of freedom. And when we do, freedom works. security.’ Structure President George H. Bush, Address on the State of the Union, January 29, 1991.

The war was a defining moment, everyone thought. What exactly did it define? Another chap- ter in an age of astonishments that has brought down the Berlin Wall, ended the cold war and begun the disintegration of the Soviet Union? The dawn of a new world order? The birth of a new American century - onset of a unipolar world, with America playing the global cop? The end of the old American depression, the compulsive pessimism, called the Vietnam syndrome? The first post-nuclear big war, almost as quick and lethal but smarter, fairer, precisely selec- tive in its targets, with no radioactive after-effects? The first war epic of the global village's electronic theater? The apotheosis of war making as a brilliant American package - a dazzling, compacted product, like some new concentrate of intervention: Fast! Effective! All of those and Key notion much, much more. Or somewhat less. The enterprise is still surrounded by a daze of astonishment: that it should have been so quick, so "easy," so devastating. That coalition casualties should have been so light. That Sad- dam Hussein should have been so cartoon-villainous. That his soldiers should have committed atrocities that took the moral onus off the carnage that the coalition left in the desert. David Horsey, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1992 By Lance Morrow; TIME Magazine, Monday, March 18, 1991

When the Gulf War began, U.S. intelligence had believed Saddam Hussein to be years away from developing a nuclear weapon. But post-war inspections revealed he A reac- had been within a year of reaching that capability. Then, the U.S. and international tion to inspectors believed Saddam’s biological weapons programs had ended; yet a defector Colin in 1995 proved that false. So the U.S. required that U.N. inspection regimes be im- Vocabulary Pow- posed on Iraq and tightened as time progressed. The Iraqi president repeatedly frus- ell’s trated international weapons inspectors; and then, in 1998, he blocked inspections pres- altogether. After 9/11, U.S. intelligence services told President George W. Bush and his entatio Secretary of State Colin Powell that Iraq sought WMD, which would justify invading Iraq n to in 2003. the UN Meanwhile, as Iraq defied the U.S.A. and the United Nations, Islamist fundamentalists about repeatedly struck at America starting in 1993 and in 1998, al-Qaeda’s first strike de- Iraq’s stroyed U.S. embassies in Africa. According to Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda’s leader, WMDs, this was a direct consequence of the First Gulf War. For, according to him, its prosecu- 4 Febru- tion by American forces had been unnecessary and had led to an unprecedented out- ary rage—infidel Americans occupying Saudi Arabia, “the land of the two holy places.” 2003. “The First Gulf War and Its Aftermath”, Hillel Fradkin & Lewis Libby, Focus Quarterly, Hudson Institute, October 14th, 2015. HISTORY 1 ◄ ►

We last met in an hour of shock and suffering. In four short months, our nation has CS4 ◄ The US and the world since comforted the victims, begun to rebuild New York and the Pentagon, rallied a great 1991 ► coalition, captured, arrested, and rid the world of thousands of terrorists, destroyed How did the USA adjust to a chang- Afghanistan's terrorist training camps, saved a people from starvation, and freed a ing world? country from brutal oppression. […] Thanks to the work of our law enforcement officials and coalition partners, hun- 2. A changing interventionism : the dreds of terrorists have been arrested, yet tens of thousands of trained terrorists are global war on terror still at large. These enemies view the entire world as a battlefield, and we must pur- sue them wherever they are. […] Structure What we have found in Afghanistan confirms that, far from ending there, our war against terror is only beginning. […] But some governments will be timid in the face of terror. And make no mistake about it: If they do not act, America will. […] Rogue states like North Korea, Iran & Iraq, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists. They could attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States. In any of these cases, the price of indifference would be catastrophic. Which coalition against Iraq? President George W. Bush's State of the Union Address, January 29, 2002. NickNick Anderson, ANDERSON, The The LouisvilleLouisville Journal Journal, ,18 18 Nov. November 2002 2002

Key notion

“America must always lead on the world stage,” the president said. “But U.S. military action cannot be the only — or even primary — component of our leadership in every instance. Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail.” […] Mr. Obama disputed critics who say his cautious response to crises like Syria’s civil war and Russian aggression toward Ukraine had eroded America’s leader- ship in the world. The President told the graduates they might be the first class since 2001 not sent to serve in Iraq or Afghanistan. […] He presented Afghanistan as a mission all but fulfilled, described a world of threats that require a more targeted and varied American response Vocabulary and added, the overriding objective is to avoid an error on the scale of the Iraq war. Mr. Obama said the Iran nuclear negotiations, normalizing relations with Cuba and a new climate-change accord would be among his top foreign policy priorities for his final years in office. President Obama is finally getting to apply his diplomacy-first foreign policy following the lessons from Iraq and the Arab Spring. “It does not serve America’s interests to try to push a country toward collapse,” he said. “Even if that worked we know from hard-earned experience that countries are more likely to enjoy lasting trans- Dead, , Denver Post, 3 May 2011. formation if their people are not subjected to chaos.” A covert US operation executed Osama bin Laden who had been hiding in ‘Obama Warns U.S. Faces Diffuse Terrorism’ , Mark Landlermay, New York Times, May 28, 2014. Pakistan. Not only is American kit better; American troops, unlike China’s, have At the end of the Cold War, the U.S. was seen as the owner of the secret to the good life. HISTORY 1 lots of experience of using it in battle. Chinese commanders talk about It was a life that everyone wanted—one more alluring than the one Communism could ◄ not being able to match American hard power until 2050 at the earliest. provide as the Soviet Union failed to provide a standard of living equivalent to that of ► Unlike China and Russia, who have few real friends, America has America’s. The U.S. has been the country with the greatest soft power since then. allies everywhere. US military power retains global reach (it is working The impact of American companies around the world is evident across the globe. People on supersonic cruise missiles, and long-range drones). continue to drink Coca-Cola, eat at McDonald’s, and wear Levi’s. American products like Still, the frustratingly incon- CS5 ◄ US-China relations today ► iPhones are made in China. But they are not conceived there, they have an American clusive campaigns in Iraq In what way has China become both nationality. They continue to sway the world and its desires in favor of the U.S., even if and Afghanistan have a partner and rival of the USA? China may benefit from them economically. dented its image of invinci- China may indeed one day have the greatest economic output, but it won’t have any- bility and burned through 1. Competing powers thing that matches the compelling stories of Hollywood, or the New York music labels, or cash that could have been 2. Geopolitical confrontation ? even the global appeal of U.S. social media outlets such as Twitter and Instagram. It may invested in even better tech- never experience the level of free expression that is available in the U.S. nology. […] Financial con- "The Chinese Mirage: Why Soft Power Matters”, Shahrukh H. Khan, The Harvard Crimson, March 11, 2014. straints make it harder to Structure repair the damage done by

the wars of the past 12 Texas- years. […] Congress hates

curbing military pay or clos- themed bar in ing unwanted bases, two China. “Soft things the Pentagon says Power, Amer- are needed if enough money ica vs. China: is to be spent on new weap- America Still ons. The yawning gap be- Wins”, Mark C. tween Uncle Sam and his Eades, For-

potential foes seems bound eign Policy,

to shrink. January 22, Key notion "American military power: 2014.

Unrivalled, for now",

The Economist, May 3rd 2014

In the White House, China is considered a major rival to the United States - but also a China Sea Territory Disputes crucial global partner. Obama has enlisted Beijing's support on issues such as the Iran Sources: Money Morning staff research, Google News, December 1, 2013 nuclear deal and a major pact to reduce carbon emissions. Last week, China joined the United States in support of a U.N. Security Council resolution to enact new economic sanctions against North Korea because of its atomic bomb test last month. Inside the West Wing, aides have been divided over how hard to push Beijing on areas of disagreement, including cybersecurity, human rights and the South China Sea, for Vocabulary fear of damaging the cooperation on other matters. Last fall, Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed that China would not militarize the Spratly Islands. But last week, a Washington think tank published satellite images that analysts said showed that China was installing a powerful radar system in the Spratlys. Separately, U.S. officials said China had deployed surface-to-air missiles and jet fighters on Woody Island, which is closer to China and has been under its control for decades. Administration officials point out that China's intimidation has pushed several neighbors into greater partnerships with the United States. Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei are members of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact led by the Obama ad- ministration. In 2012, Obama restored formal U.S. diplomatic relations with Myanmar also known as Burma, after 50 years of estrangement, and he will become the first U.S. president to visit Laos in the fall. “China testing Obama as it expands its influence in Southeast Asia”, David Nakamura and Dan Lamothe, The Washington Post, March 1, 2016. HISTORY 1 ◄ ► Economic interdependence: a factor for cooperation Interdependence and growing economic ties between China and the US have therefore been welcomed as factors for cooperation CS5 ◄ US-China relations today ► and vectors for easing some of the existing tensions. In what way has China become both China and the United States are today’s two largest economies in a partner and rival of the USA? the world - if we do not count the European Union as a whole -, and In coming years, we’ll hear a lot about the size of China’s economy have multiple areas of economic interdependence. US imports from surpassing that of the United States. President Obama himself often China nearly quintupled between 2000 and 2014, going from USD 2. Geopolitical confrontation ? uses the language of competition to fend off countries like China and 3. Economic cooperation ? 100 billion to USD 467 billion, making the US China’s largest export India . And if economics is a competition, then the best measure of suc- market. In addition, China is the third largest export market for the cess must be GDP, which economists use to measure the total value of US, accounting for USD 124 billion worth of goods in 2014. goods and services a country produces. It does bring home the sheer Structure The US trade deficit with China has instigated strong concern size of the Chinese economy, in the services and goods and that people among American policymakers and has pushed the government to in China are producing. call for an increase in US exports worldwide, especially to China. But Americans should Similarly, US investments in China are much higher than Chinese hope for the Chinese investments in the US. In only one year, between 2012 and 2013, economy to grow because the amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) invested by the US in it will be a larger market China rose from USD5 4 billion to USD61 billion. China, on the for the goods and services other hand, only invested less than 10 % of its USD 1.1 trillion in we create in the U.S. Be- foreign investments since 2005 in the US. In terms of public debt, at sides, in terms of eco- the end of October 2015 China was the largest foreign holder of US nomic output per capita, debt, with USD 1 255 trillion in US Treasury Securities, or approxi- the U.S. is way ahead of mately 20 % of the US public debt held by foreign countries. China by a factor of more Key notion The extent to which both economies are intertwined manifests the than 8. With its much degree to which this can influence their relationship. Each is highly larger population of 1.3 reliant on the other and neither cannot afford the other to fail. billion people, China Roberto Bendini, US-China relations: a complex balance between cooperation and barely ranks in the top 100 confrontation, In-depth Analysis, European Union, March 2016 countries for income per

person. Chinese consum- US Imports and Exports of Goods with China (2000-2014), ers only have about one- US Census Bureau. tenth as much money to

spend as Americans ; that

is about half the world

average, on par with the

Philippines, Bolivia or Iraq. Vocabulary "When Will China Rule the Economic World -and why you shouldn't care", Christopher Matthews, TIME, Jan. 08, 2014.