Customer Reviews

Living with China: U.S.-China Relations in the Twenty-First Century (American Assembly)

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It's possible that China's emergence as a world power in the 21st century -- if relations between the US and China are friendly -- will mark the beginning of a new era in which the world will enjoy unprecedented stability and peace. On the other hand, unfriendly US-China relations have the potential to bring a nuclear holocaust upon the world. Understanding and dealing with the development this situation is crucial to the future of the planet. "Living With China" stands out from the dozens of recent China books as the most intelligent, carefully reasoned, thoroughly researched analysis of the topic. Written by a top China scholars (rather than opinionated journalists with limited understanding of China and, apparently, little respect for the future of civilization), this collection of essays addresses every important aspect of US-China relations and demonstrates the importance and benefit of friendly ties between our two countries. Unavoidably, the prose is more sober and scholarly than the sensationalistic, alarmist writing found in other China books; but it pays off, because what you find in this book is real content: solid arguments, empirical evidence, balanced presentations of different viewpoints, and policy recommendations that are actually intended to benefit the future of the US, and the future of humanity.

The nine essays that are found in "Living With China" thoroughly assess the relationship existing between the United States and the People's Republic of China, offering avenues of discussion such as: environmental issues, human rights violations, the independence of Taiwan, the importance of allowing China to join the WTO, and the inevitability of China increasing its economic as well as military strength. The book is still very relevant despite its copyright date of 1997.

After I finished the reading of this book I realized that the US-China-Taiwan relation is established fundamentally on the view of Michel Oksenberg. Of course Lieberthal has play an inportant role on the decision making of the State Department.

But all the discussion focused on what the PRC thinks and how big will be its economy. Shall these exports ask the following questions?

1. CCP is claiming they are the sole leadership of China. Is it legitimate?

2. CCP owns the PLA. PLA plays an important role in its regime's decision making. Do you know the agenda of PLA?

3. The total GDP of Taiwan ranks 20th in the world. It is just behind Sweden but it exceeds the countries Turkey, Norway, Denmark, Indonesia. Malaysia, Thailand, greece and Portugal. Taiwan is not a "small" country. Any country comparing with China is a small country. Where is the view of 23 million Taiwanese in these report?