Sino-American relations and the diplomacy of modernization: 1966-1979

This dissertation is a study of the relations between the Peoples Republic of China and the United States from the late Johnson administration to the Carter administrationa time period I call the long 1970s. To fully understand the development of Sino-American relations during this time period, we can not merely focus on the strategic issues between the two countries such as the US-PRC-USSR triangular diplomacy and ignore other non-strategic issues such as trade and cultural exchanges. Instead, we need to adopt a holistic approach by examining the discourse on China's modernization, that is, how China's modernization was perceived and debated by both countries' policy-makers and how the discourse on China's modernization laid the foundation for improved relations between China and the United States.