Essay Sample on China's Relationship With the West

Introduction

China's Relationship with the West or the Chinese-U.S. relations is an international relationship that existed between the United States of America and the People's Republic of China. The history of this relationship can be traced since the period when the United States gained her independence. The relationship between China and the West is quite strong and somewhat positive especially about the intended purpose of their coming together. However, the connection is very complicated because both countries have an exemplary extensive economic partnership as well as a great trade system between them which necessitates positive political relations, although significant issues can still be evident. Notably, it was a relationship of mutual suspicion over the intentions of others, economic cooperation as well as hegemonic rivalry in the Pacific (Summers, 2016). As a result, each nation adopted a cautious attitude concerning the political adversary of the other while maintaining a concrete economic partner. According to the world leaders and academics, the relationship was regarded as the most significant bilateral relation of the 21st century.

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However, in 1842, a rapid encroachment of the Western powers was experienced after China lost the Opium war for the British led to mechanisation and modernisation of power free the Chinese citizens. The war led to the collapse of China from her lofty position of advanced Cathay and enlightenment of earlier centuries (Summers, 2016). This led to great voyages which opened a significant way across the Atlantic, Cape of Good Hope as well as the Cape of Horn for the Spanish, Portuguese and the Dutch Merchants who treaded over China in search of high quality and expensive commodities for the European market. Therefore, the paper focuses on discussing the relationship between China and the West in the case of early 1800s. The opium war, One-China policy, communist controls as well as China's Century of Humiliation are remarkable points of review in the discussion.

The Opium War and the West

The drive for free trade by the new British came to a severe crisis when a zealous Chinese official clinched and burned one of the largest Opium stock which is owned by the British. As a result, an Opium war broke up and eventually ended in 1842 in the Treaty of Nanking. The treaty revealed that any privilege which will be won by a foreign country would be beneficial to all other foreign countries, which helped in laying the foundation for the wars as well as the diplomatic dealings which changed the China's international status.

According to Grasso et al. (2015), when China was defeated in the Opium War, all the western nations were recognised to be equally by China leading to free entry in her market for the Western Merchants (Grasso et al. 2015). This later led to the shackling of Chinese treaties as other nations failed to recognise China as an equal identity. As a result, China was forced to pay for mall indemnity of the war to cover for the expenses of the country which has defeated them.

Consequently, the war led to China losing her position as one nation and instead became a virtual colony where all other countries with prominent merchant and ships dock at for further conquering not particularly for business opportunities. More treaties were signed to increase the foreign control of the Chinese territory which triggered a war with Japan. China again lost the battle leading to an intensified competition for strategic economic spheres and bases in her territories.

The Century of Humiliation

The century of humiliation refers to the period of imperialism and intervention between the Western powers and Japan after the Opium War. The term arose due to the rising nationalism in China to oppose the Japanese government within the territories. The period was cited with significant events such as the defeat of by the British in the First Opium War, the Taiping Rebellion which involved a massive civil war, the unequal treaties which gave the foreign nation dominance of China and the second Opium War defeat among others.

Moreover, during this period, China experienced major internal divisions and fragmentations after losing all her wars which forced it to make concessions to the winning powers (Casper, 2018). Generally, the Century of Humiliation led to a strong moral force on the Chinese people who in return pushed the government to create a sustainable development that will allow people to have a direct say in their economic activities and procedures.

Throughout the long century of humiliation, China suffered massive political, cultural and military indignities such as a force to open an effective cede control treaty along Yangtze River and the Coastal regions where some foreign nations have enjoyed extraterritorial dominance. This resulted in the ceding of the entire Hong Kong as well as other territories. Similarly, Japan which was regarded inferior by China was defeated by the west although their leaders were more adept as compared to China's who quickly surrendered to the war. Japan, therefore, took control over portions of Manchuria and Taiwan because of their stalwart leaders who out marched China's.

Communist Control

The control was created during the Second Red Scare with the aim of protecting the American government from international communist threats. The pursuit of subversive intentions was associated with communist control as a way of outlawing peaceful means of addressing issues. However, although China was believed to be the world's leading exporter of harmful drugs, the invasion of the nation by the communist changed the fact. China experienced a fundamental developmental problem which deters it from further progress in the competitive market result in the dominance of her territory by the Communists. As a result, the exploitation of China fuelled a need for nationalism. Chines were subjected to war which they eventually lost due to their weak military system which could not match the foreigners.

One-China Policy

The policy stated that China is a single country despite other arguments that it has two governments, the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China under one official name. The policy was followed by many nations without finding its actual meaning (Chiang, 2017). The system was adopted with the view of bringing together fragmented China together under one control.

Similarly, the one-china policy became a requirement in any political entities before diplomatic relations are made between China and Western nations. The system mandated that every country that wishes to create a diplomatic relationship with China must detach itself from its initial contact with other bodies.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the relationship between China and the West was one of the factors that led to the collapse of China. After serial defeats in the Opium Wars, China became venerable for communist control that enjoyed territorial dominance along its coastal regions. China also lost its position of becoming a colony due to a poor military organisation. However, through One-China policy a diplomatic relationship was restored in China as both the PRC and ROC embraces togetherness for economic development.

References

Casper, L. B. (2018). Decoding China's Century of Humiliation: Relevance of History and the Impact on Sino-Japanese and Sino-US Relations. NDU/Joint Forces Staff College Norfolk United States. Retrieved fromhttps://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/1050913.pdf

Chiang, F. (2017). The One-China-Policy: State, Sovereignty, and Taiwan's International Legal Status. Elsevier.

Grasso, J., Corrin, J. P., & Kort, M. (2015). Modernisation and revolution in China: from the Opium Wars to the Olympics. Routledge.

Summers, C. C. (2016). Addiction, Arrogance, and Aggression: The Question of Attitude in the First Opium War. The tenor of Our Times, 5(1), 3. Retrived from https://scholarworks.harding.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1058&context=tenor