U.S. Foreign Policy with China
...¡¦s dependence on their high-sulfur coal resources has lead to a massive pollution problem. China is a one-party state, with real power lying with the Chinese Communist party. The National People's Congress (NPC) decides on national economic strategy, elects or removes high officeholders, and can change China's constitution. In the executive branch are a premier, who is head of government, and a president, who is head of state. China began to build a modern legal system in the late 1970s, after opening itself economically to the rest of the world. Since then it has developed legal codes in the areas of criminal, civil, administrative, and commercial law. In the early 80s, China reorganized the structure of the government, emphasizing the maintenance of discipline, loyalty, and spiritual purity in the face of increasing international contact. The Constitution of the PRC provides for religious freedom, but religious practice is not encouraged. In recent years there have been some well-publicized confrontations between the Chinese government and various religious groups. For example, in 1999 the government banned the Falun Gong (Buddhist Law) spiritual movement after a group of several thousand rallied to urge the sect¡¦s official recognition. The government then began an ongoing campaign to eradicate the religion. In 1978 the Chinese leadership began moving the economy from a sluggish, inefficient, Soviet-style centrally planned economy to a more market-oriented system. The result has been a quadrupling of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) since 78. Although the economy was strengthened by these reforms, China continues to suffer from inadequate transportation, communication, and energy resources. The government struggles to sustain adequate jobs, and 80 to 120 million surplus rural workers remain adrift between the villages and cities subsisting through part-time, low-paying jobs. The 1989 Tiananmen Square incident brought on international economic sanctions, which sent China¡¦s economy into decline. Fortunately, International trade gradually resumed, and in June 1990, after China released several hundred dissidents, the U.S. renewed China¡¦s most-favored-nation trade status. The Chinese economy continued to grow throughout the 1990s and with the admission of China to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in November of 2001, China¡¦s economy has once again received a huge boost. A report released by the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs in June of 97 reads, ¡§the United States seeks constructive relations with a strong, stable, open, and prosperous China that is integrated into the international community and acts as a responsible member of that community.¡¨ The report outlined five reasons why the U.S. needs to have a constructive working relationship with China: „h The PRC plays a major role in the post-Cold War world; „h It is the world¡¦s most populous nation and the third-largest in land mass; „h It has nuclear weapons, is a growing military power, and plays a key role in regional stability; „h As one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, China has veto power over Security Council resolutions dealing with key multilateral issues, including international peacekeeping and the resolution of regional conflicts; „h China is undergoing extraordinary economic growth and promises to be a preeminent economic power in the next century. Although during ...