Suettinger Robert L. Beyond Tiananmen: The Politics of U.S.-China Relations 1989-2000

Brookings Institution, 2003. — 570 p.It has been 13 years since soldiers of the Chinese People's Liberation Army raced into the centre of Beijing, ordered to recover "at any cost" the city's most important landmark, Tiananmen Square, from student demonstrators. The US and other Western countries recoiled in disgust after the incident, and the relationship between the US and China went from amity and co-operation to hostility, distrust and misunderstanding. Time has healed many of the wounds, and bilateral strains have been eased in light of the countries' joint opposition to international terrorism. Yet China and the US remain locked in opposition, as strategic thinkers and military planners on both sides plot future conflict scenarios with the other side as principal enemy. According to Suettinger, Tiananmen Square marked a turning point in US-China affairs. In this volume, he traces the bilateral relationship since that time, focusing on the internal political factors that shaped it. Through a series of anecdotes and observations, he sheds light on the complex and confused decision-making process that affected relations between the US and China between 1989 and the end of the Clinton presidency in 2000.