History / East Asian Languages and Civilizations (Spring 2024)
The list of issues shaping present-day U.S.-China relations is extensive. Trade and investment, the status and future of both Hong Kong and Taiwan, China’s expansion into the South China Sea and its relationships with East and Southeast Asian neighbors, China’s expanding influence in the United Nations and other multilateral institutions, human rights, technology transfer, intellectual property and cybersecurity, the status of people-to-people engagement in fields like science, health, and education are all ongoing points of discussion, sometime friction, between the two great powers.
Evaluating these and related issues today requires understanding how they have evolved over the past few decades, at least in the modern period. How does the United States’ Open-Door policy of the late 19th century compare with its position on trade with China today? What are the prospects for Taiwan autonomy given the complicated diplomatic history surrounding the normalization of U.S.-China relations in the 1970s? When and why did human rights come to be a defining issue in the U.S.-China relationship and how has it evolved over time? How are 21st century flashpoints such as technology competition shaping the traditional landscape of geopolitics in East Asia? What are the consistent throughlines in America’s policies toward China, and vice versa, and what has changed?
This course looks at a series of issues that are at the center of the U.S.-China relationship through an historical lens, providing insight into the forces that have shaped positions on both sides. The course is designed to highlight the relevance of history in framing current policy discussions and to encourage critical thinking about how history is used, misused, ignored, or reframed to serve policy imperatives.
Instructor: Neysun Mahboubi, Director of the Penn Project on the Future of U.S.-China Relations