At the end of the 20th Century, the focus of global attention and concern is on the future relationship between the world’s most influential nation and its most populous one. The series of high-level meetings and the exchange of unusually long summit visits that occupied the center of the world stage in the late 1990s reveal that both sides recognize the other’s global importance. In the words of President Bill Clinton, the role China chooses to play will powerfully shape the next century. The years 1997 and 1998 will be remembered by many for the critically acclaimed summit visits of Jiang Zemin to the United States and Bill Clinton to China. This book moves beyond the Clinton-Jiang summits of 1997-1998 to explore long-term prospects in light of recent developments. Nineteen scholars from diverse disciplines, including eight from China mainland institutions, address the outlook for security relations in the Asia-Pacific Region; prospects for strategic partnership; issues concerning Taiwan, Tibet, and trade; the potential for information, technology, and educational exchanges; future competition for natural resources; changing images of each other; and other critical dimensions of expanding non-state relationships.

The interaction of China and the United States promises to constitute the world’s most important bilateral relationship well into the 21st Century. To be constructive and enduring, relationships must be based on mutual understanding and respect. This volume provides an opportunity to advance both foundations among students, scholars, policy makers, and the attentive public in the East and the West.