(原创)层次分析法视角下的中美关系

Conflict And Cooperation
—        The Factors That Influence New Century’s Sino-U.S. Relations























Author: xxx(Squall Zhang)
Student’s Number: ?????

Introduction
The relationship between China and the United States has always been in the process of transformation. It means that the main pushing power that promotes the development of Sino-U.S. relations and major contents of the bilateral relations have been changing all the time. In this article, I’m trying to use the levels of analysis to assist us in finding the factors that influence Sino-U.S. relations and seeking the most important one.

System Level
There are several major factors that influence the system and by the characteristics and proclivities of the system itself—allocation of power among states or groups of states, economic interdependence and the rest. In fact, there is no international authority to achieve and maintain global peace and stability among nations.
    As we know, the United States is the most powerful country in the world today and it wants to take the leading role on the international stage. So the United States need to use its military and economic power to keep the hegemony in the whole world. However, China’s rapid growth is being pitched as a rapacious force undermining other Asian economies and America’s too. It is not surprising, because China’s raise in economy and military force will threaten the hegemony of America in East Asia as well as break the balance of power in Asia and the Pacific area. For Japan and other countries in East Asia, in order to eliminate their insecurities and avoid China controlling the situation of East Asia, hoping and supporting the confrontation of the U.S. and P.R.C.   
      In fact, conflicts and cooperation in Sino-U.S. relations are mainly caused by allocation of power between China and America. Taiwan issue and The Korean Peninsula nuclear issue are of the greatest representations. The U.S. prevents the mainland from unifying Taiwan to slow down the speed of China’s raise so that it can hold the balance of power in Asia and the Pacific area at a low cost. However, for the sake of controlling the developing of nuclear weapon of North Korea, it needs China’s cooperation. The actions are different, but the targets are same —keeping the hegemony and the balance of power in Asia.   
On the other hand, the economic interdependence plays an important role in Sino-U.S. relations too. Globalization has increased the common stakes for China and the United States and created a need to be more reliant for each other. For example, from 2001 to the first half of 2006, China’s exports to the U.S. increased by 150%, while American exports to China rose by 180%. In fact, MNCs have comprehensive interests in both countries. They build bonds between nations based on economic and trade. Meanwhile they can affect the foreign policies made by the government and build international cooperation. By the way ,because of the frictions over economy and trade, among which intellectual property right is of the most representation that has many times pushed China and the United States to the brink of a trade war.
In addition, other actors (IGOs and NGOs) such as UN, WHO, and EU also have effects on Sino-U.S. relations. But China and America as two main powers in the world, the influences to them are tiny.
State Level
State level theories attempt to explain international relations by emphasizing the internal workings of the state itself. In this part, I’ll mainly discuss the political regime and decision-making process differences between P.R.C. and the U.S. to explain the Sino-U.S. relations.
   The styles of government in these two states are very different. In democratic United States, individual were and are valued and protected. Checks and balances within the government and on the government ensure these individual freedoms, yet provide a structure for national determination. Reliance on capitalist economic principles with free trade and open markets both helps to support American-style democracy and is supported by the democratic process. The communist government of China emphasized collective rights over individual rights and is dictatorial in nature and private ownership is kept to a bare minimum. Similar to the friction between the Soviet Union and the U.S., the fundamental differences between the communist China and the capitalist America can be a source of tension. As Bruce Russett and Francis Fukuyama say that different types of governments do behave differently.
For example, ideological conflict, with the central issue was human rights at the time.  It has been seriously restrained the improvement of Sino-U.S. relations and affected Sino-U.S. relations in all aspects on a deep level.
As process theorists contend that decisions are quite often the result of compromise between competing factions or groups within the government bureaucracy. The military industrial complex, that is, companies that specialize in manufacturing military hardware and the different branches of the military all have a stake in maintaining some in the United States’ defense and foreign policy-making. It supports a stronger attitude to China to make more profits by selling ammunitions which are used to contain China. However, MNCs also have big effects on the American government. But they are more prone to peace and cooperation than conflicts. The role of these factions in the government and the competition between them are important contributing factors to the politics of the state. For China, power is concentrated in the hand of the CCP so the policies are mainly the result of compromise between different government bureaucracy groups. In order to consolidate CCP’s rule in China, they prefer a good relations with America.
In my opinion, these factors are not decisive. During the Cold War, the Chinese government was more dictatorial. Power flowed from the center of the political structure. The human rights were trampled flintily. But the two countries still decided to cooperate with each other to antagonize the Soviet Union. Anyway, it was and is the distribution of power leads to the action of states.
Individual Level
Individual level approaches to understanding international politics emphasize the common characteristics of all individuals, often referred to as “human nature,” or they look for explanations based on the impact that particular individuals have on the foreign policy of a given states. I’ll discuss the alternate approach addresses the ability of a singer leader or personality to shape the actions of a nation and human nature principally to explain Sino-U.S. relations in the following part.
According to Thomas Hobbes, it is the nature of the individual, which is naturally insecure and aggressive, that shapes, defines, and characterizes society and government. A number of Americans hold the view that continuing to facilitate the transfer of money, industrial capacity and technology to China in ways that will aid its development, as a threat to the U.S. and its Asia allies. What’s more, an increasingly globalised and modernized nation of 1.3 billion is not a win-win for almost everyone; it’s a losing proposition for everyone but China. Similar to the situation, most of actions that the U.S. has taken will be regarded as hegemony in China. People of the two countries always have opposite attitudes toward something or they have different benefits. And these make the potential conflicts between the U.S. and China.
Thomas Carlyle once said, “The history of the world is but the biography of great men.” This notion suggests that the perceptions and behavior of individual leaders can have a dramatic impact on the actions of a state. Let’s examine the leaders of these two countries by idiosyncratic analysis now.
Both President Jiang and Hu seem to be mild and warm. In fact, because of the internal political system, today’s China leaders can not be an activist. For the leaders of the United States, they need to take tough policies to gain the votes at the beginning and then take a more realistic attitude to China to fetch a balance of interests groups.
To my way of thinking, these factors are not fateful too. I do not discount the value of them, but there is more important factor. For instance, in 1972, both Chairman Mao and ordinary Chinese are anti-American activists, and the President Nixon was famous for anti-communism. However, China and the United States abandoned confrontation and came up with reconciliation in this year because of their common interest of countering Soviet Union’s expansion and putting an end to the Indo-China War.
Conclusion
After taking together all pictures provided by the three levels of analysis, we have an accurate and complete understanding of Sino-U.S. relations. Although there are many factors influence New Century’s Sino-U.S. Relations, but the allocation of power is the most important. Because the state that there is no international authority to achieve and maintain global peace and stability among nations. China and the U.S.’s actions on the international stage are mainly decided by distribution of power. China’s raise breaks the balance of power in Asia and changes the global structure so the America uses all kinds of measures to contain it. While when they have common interests, they will choose cooperation to keep the allocation of power from changing. The Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and countering Soviet Union’s expansion are of the greatest representations.
    Both opportunities and challenges exist when we assess the factors which influence the relations between America and China. How to catch the opportunities and solve the challenges effectively is what we should do in the future. May be by resolving contradiction and conflict both sides can gradually find out a framework that will stabilize Sino-U.S. relations.Conflict And Cooperation
—        The Factors That Influence New Century’s Sino-U.S. Relations























Author: xxx(Squall Zhang)
Student’s Number: ?????

Introduction
The relationship between China and the United States has always been in the process of transformation. It means that the main pushing power that promotes the development of Sino-U.S. relations and major contents of the bilateral relations have been changing all the time. In this article, I’m trying to use the levels of analysis to assist us in finding the factors that influence Sino-U.S. relations and seeking the most important one.

System Level
There are several major factors that influence the system and by the characteristics and proclivities of the system itself—allocation of power among states or groups of states, economic interdependence and the rest. In fact, there is no international authority to achieve and maintain global peace and stability among nations.
    As we know, the United States is the most powerful country in the world today and it wants to take the leading role on the international stage. So the United States need to use its military and economic power to keep the hegemony in the whole world. However, China’s rapid growth is being pitched as a rapacious force undermining other Asian economies and America’s too. It is not surprising, because China’s raise in economy and military force will threaten the hegemony of America in East Asia as well as break the balance of power in Asia and the Pacific area. For Japan and other countries in East Asia, in order to eliminate their insecurities and avoid China controlling the situation of East Asia, hoping and supporting the confrontation of the U.S. and P.R.C.   
      In fact, conflicts and cooperation in Sino-U.S. relations are mainly caused by allocation of power between China and America. Taiwan issue and The Korean Peninsula nuclear issue are of the greatest representations. The U.S. prevents the mainland from unifying Taiwan to slow down the speed of China’s raise so that it can hold the balance of power in Asia and the Pacific area at a low cost. However, for the sake of controlling the developing of nuclear weapon of North Korea, it needs China’s cooperation. The actions are different, but the targets are same —keeping the hegemony and the balance of power in Asia.   
On the other hand, the economic interdependence plays an important role in Sino-U.S. relations too. Globalization has increased the common stakes for China and the United States and created a need to be more reliant for each other. For example, from 2001 to the first half of 2006, China’s exports to the U.S. increased by 150%, while American exports to China rose by 180%. In fact, MNCs have comprehensive interests in both countries. They build bonds between nations based on economic and trade. Meanwhile they can affect the foreign policies made by the government and build international cooperation. By the way ,because of the frictions over economy and trade, among which intellectual property right is of the most representation that has many times pushed China and the United States to the brink of a trade war.
In addition, other actors (IGOs and NGOs) such as UN, WHO, and EU also have effects on Sino-U.S. relations. But China and America as two main powers in the world, the influences to them are tiny.
State Level
State level theories attempt to explain international relations by emphasizing the internal workings of the state itself. In this part, I’ll mainly discuss the political regime and decision-making process differences between P.R.C. and the U.S. to explain the Sino-U.S. relations.
   The styles of government in these two states are very different. In democratic United States, individual were and are valued and protected. Checks and balances within the government and on the government ensure these individual freedoms, yet provide a structure for national determination. Reliance on capitalist economic principles with free trade and open markets both helps to support American-style democracy and is supported by the democratic process. The communist government of China emphasized collective rights over individual rights and is dictatorial in nature and private ownership is kept to a bare minimum. Similar to the friction between the Soviet Union and the U.S., the fundamental differences between the communist China and the capitalist America can be a source of tension. As Bruce Russett and Francis Fukuyama say that different types of governments do behave differently.
For example, ideological conflict, with the central issue was human rights at the time.  It has been seriously restrained the improvement of Sino-U.S. relations and affected Sino-U.S. relations in all aspects on a deep level.
As process theorists contend that decisions are quite often the result of compromise between competing factions or groups within the government bureaucracy. The military industrial complex, that is, companies that specialize in manufacturing military hardware and the different branches of the military all have a stake in maintaining some in the United States’ defense and foreign policy-making. It supports a stronger attitude to China to make more profits by selling ammunitions which are used to contain China. However, MNCs also have big effects on the American government. But they are more prone to peace and cooperation than conflicts. The role of these factions in the government and the competition between them are important contributing factors to the politics of the state. For China, power is concentrated in the hand of the CCP so the policies are mainly the result of compromise between different government bureaucracy groups. In order to consolidate CCP’s rule in China, they prefer a good relations with America.
In my opinion, these factors are not decisive. During the Cold War, the Chinese government was more dictatorial. Power flowed from the center of the political structure. The human rights were trampled flintily. But the two countries still decided to cooperate with each other to antagonize the Soviet Union. Anyway, it was and is the distribution of power leads to the action of states.
Individual Level
Individual level approaches to understanding international politics emphasize the common characteristics of all individuals, often referred to as “human nature,” or they look for explanations based on the impact that particular individuals have on the foreign policy of a given states. I’ll discuss the alternate approach addresses the ability of a singer leader or personality to shape the actions of a nation and human nature principally to explain Sino-U.S. relations in the following part.
According to Thomas Hobbes, it is the nature of the individual, which is naturally insecure and aggressive, that shapes, defines, and characterizes society and government. A number of Americans hold the view that continuing to facilitate the transfer of money, industrial capacity and technology to China in ways that will aid its development, as a threat to the U.S. and its Asia allies. What’s more, an increasingly globalised and modernized nation of 1.3 billion is not a win-win for almost everyone; it’s a losing proposition for everyone but China. Similar to the situation, most of actions that the U.S. has taken will be regarded as hegemony in China. People of the two countries always have opposite attitudes toward something or they have different benefits. And these make the potential conflicts between the U.S. and China.
Thomas Carlyle once said, “The history of the world is but the biography of great men.” This notion suggests that the perceptions and behavior of individual leaders can have a dramatic impact on the actions of a state. Let’s examine the leaders of these two countries by idiosyncratic analysis now.
Both President Jiang and Hu seem to be mild and warm. In fact, because of the internal political system, today’s China leaders can not be an activist. For the leaders of the United States, they need to take tough policies to gain the votes at the beginning and then take a more realistic attitude to China to fetch a balance of interests groups.
To my way of thinking, these factors are not fateful too. I do not discount the value of them, but there is more important factor. For instance, in 1972, both Chairman Mao and ordinary Chinese are anti-American activists, and the President Nixon was famous for anti-communism. However, China and the United States abandoned confrontation and came up with reconciliation in this year because of their common interest of countering Soviet Union’s expansion and putting an end to the Indo-China War.
Conclusion
After taking together all pictures provided by the three levels of analysis, we have an accurate and complete understanding of Sino-U.S. relations. Although there are many factors influence New Century’s Sino-U.S. Relations, but the allocation of power is the most important. Because the state that there is no international authority to achieve and maintain global peace and stability among nations. China and the U.S.’s actions on the international stage are mainly decided by distribution of power. China’s raise breaks the balance of power in Asia and changes the global structure so the America uses all kinds of measures to contain it. While when they have common interests, they will choose cooperation to keep the allocation of power from changing. The Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and countering Soviet Union’s expansion are of the greatest representations.
    Both opportunities and challenges exist when we assess the factors which influence the relations between America and China. How to catch the opportunities and solve the challenges effectively is what we should do in the future. May be by resolving contradiction and conflict both sides can gradually find out a framework that will stabilize Sino-U.S. relations.