Negotiating with the Enemy
U.S.-China Talks during the Cold War, 1949-1972
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Indiana University Press
Published:29th Sep '06
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
A compelling account of Cold War politics and secret negotiations
Few relationships during the Cold War were as dramatic as that between the US and China. During World War II, China was America's ally against Japan. By 1949, the two countries viewed each other as adversaries and soon faced off in Korea. For the next two decades, Beijing and Washington were bitter enemies. This is an account of that period.
"A very good attempt to give a coherent and consistent account of the China-U.S. contacts during the Cold War. . . . [R]eaders will certainly gain a better understanding of this interesting and intricate history." —Zhou Wenzhong, Chinese Ambassador to the United States
Few relationships during the Cold War were as dramatic as that between the United States and China. During World War II, China was America's ally against Japan. By 1949, the two countries viewed each other as adversaries and soon faced off in Korea. For the next two decades, Beijing and Washington were bitter enemies. Negotiating with the Enemy is a gripping account of that period. On several occasions—Taiwan in 1954 and 1958, and Vietnam in 1965—the nations were again on the verge of direct military confrontation. However, even as relations seemed at their worst, the process leading to a rapprochement had begun. Dramatic episodes such as the Ping-Pong diplomacy of spring 1971 and Henry Kissinger's secret trip to Beijing in July 1971 paved the way for Nixon's historic 1972 meeting with Mao.
Xia's readable style, up-to-date research, balanced judgments, and far better presentation of the Chinese side make this the preferred work for serious readers. Vol 15, no. 3
* China Review International *Yafeng Xia . . . has penned a complex scholarly account on a simple question: how did two adversaries, the US and the People's Republic of China (PRC), turn around that relationship over the course of the period from 1949 to 1972 in a diplomatic revolution engineered by Mao Zedong and Richard Nixon? Employing newly available Chinese archival information, Xia painstakingly crafts the story from the turbulent year 1949 to Nixon's China trip in 1972. . . . Highly recommended.
* Choice *Xia has written a valuable book that adds considerably to our understanding of Chinese negotiating style and aims from 1949 to 1972.
* Journal of Cold War Studies *Dr. Yafeng Xia's study is premised on a rich array of U.S. and Chinese sources. His analysis is powerful and conclusions trustworthy. This book is one of the best recent works on the history of Sino-American relations.No. 8 (summer 2009)
-- Hui He, Professor of History * South China Normal UniversiISBN: 9780253347589
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
352 pages