Elizabeth Economy expounds on U.S. Foreign Policy Relations with China
Published July 15, 2021
The dramatic shift in China's domestic and foreign policies under Xi Jinping directly challenges America’s values and interests. The American foreign policy community’s understanding of China’s intentions and capabilities has led to a rethink and a reset of our foreign policy. The traditional approach to China of “engage but hedge” has been replaced by a policy that Elizabeth Economy calls “compete, counter, and contain.”
Additional Resources:
- Read “The China Model: Unexceptional Exceptionalism,” by Elizabeth Economy via the Human Prosperity Project. Available here.
- Read “An Order Aligned with Chinese Values,” by Elizabeth Economy via the Lowy Institute. Available here.
- Read “China’s Neo-Maoist Moment,” by Elizabeth Economy via Foreign Affairs. Available here.
“There's been a dramatic shift in how the US foreign policy community understands China: its intentions and its capabilities. And this has led to a rethink and a reset of US policy. In both countries, analysts and members of the administrations have begun to ask the question whether we are in the midst of a new Cold War. So, how have we arrived at this point? It's a function of a dramatic shift in China's domestic and foreign policies under Xi Jinping in ways that directly challenge US values and interests. And it is the determination by the Trump administration that the traditional US approach to China, of engage but hedge, no longer is adequate to manage the bilateral relationship. Instead the administration has adopted a policy that I call “compete, counter, and contain.” The pandemic is not responsible for the downward trajectory in the US/China relationship, but it has greatly exacerbated bilateral tensions.”