United States and China flag background - Country wallpapers
United States and China flag background - Country wallpapers
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China–United States relations
China–United States relations (simplified Chinese: 中美关系; traditional Chinese: 中美關係; pinyin: Zhōngměi Guānxì), also known as U.S.–Chinese relations, Chinese–U.S. relations, or Sino-American relations, refers to international relations between China and the United States. The history of the relationship can be traced back to when the United States first gained independence. The relationship between the two countries have been, until recent years, quite strong, complex, and even somewhat positive in various aspects. Both countries used to have an extremely extensive economic partnership, and the great amount of trade between the two countries necessitated for constructive political relations, but significant issues still exist. The relationship is of economic cooperation, hegemonic rivalry in the Pacific, and mutual suspicion over each other's intentions. Therefore, each nation has adopted a wary attitude regarding the other as a potential adversary but has meanwhile maintained an extremely strong economic partnership. It has been described by world leaders and academics as the world's most important bilateral relationship of the 21st century.
As of 2019, the United States has the world's largest economy and China has the second largest although China has a larger GDP when measured by PPP. Historically, relations between the two countries have generally been stable with some periods of open conflict, most notably during the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Currently, China and the United States have mutual political, economic, and security interests, such as the proliferation of nuclear weapons, but there are unresolved concerns relating to the role of democracy in government in China and human rights in China. China is the second largest foreign creditor of the United States, after Japan. The two countries remain in dispute over territorial issues in the South China Sea.
According to a 2017 BBC World Service poll, 33% of the Chinese view America's influence positively, and 61% express a negative view. Likewise, only 22% of Americans view China's influence positively, and 70% view it negatively. According to a 2019 survey by the Pew Research Center, 26% of Americans have a favorable view of China, with 60% expressing an unfavorable view. The poll also found that 24% of Americans see China as the top threat to the US.[ Relations with China began under US President George Washington, leading to the 1845 Treaty of Wangxia. The US was allied to the Republic of China during the Pacific War but, after the Communist victory in Mainland China during the Chinese Civil War, fought a major armed conflict with the People's Republic of China in the Korean War and did not establish relations for 25 years, until President Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China. Since Nixon's visit, every US president, with the exception of Jimmy Carter, has toured China. Relations with China have strained under President Barack Obama's Asia pivot strategy and his support for Japan in the Senkaku Islands dispute. Despite tensions during his term, the Chinese population's favorability of the US stood at 51% in Obama's last year of 2016, only to dip during the Trump administration.
The relations deteriorated sharply under President Donald Trump, whose administration launched a trade war against China, banned US companies from selling equipment to Huawei, increased visa restrictions on Chinese nationality students and scholars and designated China as a currency manipulator. During the Trump administration, and especially since the US-China trade war began, political observers have started to warn that a new cold war is emerging. Michael D. Swaine warned in 2019, "The often positive and optimistic forces, interests, and beliefs that sustained bilateral ties for decades are giving way to undue pessimism, hostility, and a zero-sum mindset in almost every area of engagement." However by 2020, the two countries have started to take steps to repair the relations; the US lifted its currency manipulator designation on China on 13 January 2020, and both countries signed the US–China Phase One trade deal on 15 January.
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