Overview

Congress and China Policy: Past Episodic, Recent Enduring Influence supports findings that bipartisan majorities in Congress have been instrumental in driving the fundamental shift in American policy toward China carried out during the past six years. Filling major gaps in the inadequate treatment of Congress in assessments of US policy toward China, this book compares recent Congressional influence with the episodes of Congressional activism in China policy over the past 200 years, showing Congress recently has been more important than ever. The findings also show that partisan politics, Congressional-executive competition for policy control, swings in public and media opinion, and influences by special interests—longstanding drivers of past Congressional involvement in China policy—have been of secondary or lesser importance as the Congressional members have grappled with the acute dangers posed by Chinese economic, security and governance challenges. Steady and determined efforts by this cohort of bipartisan Congressional majorities to defend America from Chinese challenges have proven more resolute than the erratic practices of President Trump and previously dismissive Joseph Biden who came late to a tougher policy. This volume forecasts that US policy will remain heavily influenced by these members as they serve out their terms in the years ahead.

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9781666929485

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"No one is in a better position than Robert G. Sutter to write about the evolving role of the US Congress in America's China policy since the beginning of engagement with China in the 1970s. This authoritative book draws from Sutter's personal experiences as a research staff in Congress and his thorough research as a scholar. Anyone interested in the US-China relation, US foreign policy, Chinese foreign policy, and great power dynamics cannot afford to miss this unique and fascinating book. --Suisheng Zhao, University of Denver and editor of Journal of Contemporary China Robert G. Sutter brings to this impressive study a half-century of first-hand experience as a respected scholar of US-China relations and a former Congressional staff member and US government official. He has written the definitive study of this highly important, but neglected, aspect of the Sino-American relationship. It should be read by every member of Congress, their staff, and all those who seek to understand the dynamics of US policies towards China. --David Shambaugh, George Washington University Robert G. Sutter, a former National Intelligence Officer for East Asia and the Pacific, presents a clear-eyed, dispassionate view of U.S. China policy since the Nixon-Mao era. This book argues that congress has never been more important in policymaking than in the past five-plus years of America's hardening against Chinese challenges and predicts that its influence will endure for the foreseeable future. --June Teufel Dreyer, University of Miami Sutter, an authoritative China scholar who spent 24 years with the Congressional Research Service, offers an impressive interpretation of Congress's role in US-China relations. Though this study looks at a 200-yearperiod, its primary focus is how the US has engaged with China since the early 1970s, Nixon-Mao era. Sutter uses questions from James Lindsay's The Domestic Sources of American Foreign Policy (2018) to ascertain whether Americans believed they faced external threats, inclining Congress to rally behind the president. If members of Congress perceived the president's policy had dubious benefits to them or their constituents, they responded in a partisan fashion (for example, the policy hiccup with the passage of the Taiwan Relations Act in 1979). A less important factor was whether the president's party controlled Congress. However, since 2017, strongly bipartisan majorities have collaborated with both Trump and Biden administration leaders ""in carrying out the remarkable US government hardening against very serious Chinese challenges to American interests"" (p. 215). Sutter believes this hardening approach will continue in future years. Highly recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals. -- ""Choice Reviews"""

Robert G. Sutter brings to this impressive study a half-century of first-hand experience as a respected scholar of US-China relations and a former Congressional staff member and US government official. He has written the definitive study of this highly important, but neglected, aspect of the Sino-American relationship. It should be read by every member of Congress, their staff, and all those who seek to understand the dynamics of US policies towards China.--David Shambaugh, George Washington University Robert G. Sutter, currently teaching at George Washington University and a former National Intelligence Officer for East Asia and the Pacific at the National Intelligence Council, presents a clear-eyed, dispassionate view of U.S. China policy since the Nixon-Mao era, arguing that congress has never been more important in policymaking than in the past five-plus years of America's hardening against Chinese challenges and predicts that the its influence ill endure for the foreseeable future.--June Teufel Dreyer, University of Miami No one is in a better position than Robert G. Sutter to write about the evolving role of the US Congress in America's China policy since the beginning of engagement with China in the 1970s. This authoritative book draws from Sutter's personal experiences as a research staff in Congress and his thorough research as a scholar. Anyone interested in the US-China relation, US foreign policy, Chinese foreign policy, and great power dynamics cannot afford to miss this unique and fascinating book.--Suisheng Zhao, University of Denver and editor of Journal of Contemporary China

No one is in a better position than Robert G. Sutter to write about the evolving role of the US Congress in America's China policy since the beginning of engagement with China in the 1970s. This authoritative book draws from Sutter's personal experiences as a research staff in Congress and his thorough research as a scholar. Anyone interested in the US-China relation, US foreign policy, Chinese foreign policy, and great power dynamics cannot afford to miss this unique and fascinating book. --Suisheng Zhao, University of Denver and editor of Journal of Contemporary China Robert G. Sutter brings to this impressive study a half-century of first-hand experience as a respected scholar of US-China relations and a former Congressional staff member and US government official. He has written the definitive study of this highly important, but neglected, aspect of the Sino-American relationship. It should be read by every member of Congress, their staff, and all those who seek to understand the dynamics of US policies towards China. --David Shambaugh, George Washington University Robert G. Sutter, a former National Intelligence Officer for East Asia and the Pacific, presents a clear-eyed, dispassionate view of U.S. China policy since the Nixon-Mao era. This book argues that congress has never been more important in policymaking than in the past five-plus years of America's hardening against Chinese challenges and predicts that its influence will endure for the foreseeable future. --June Teufel Dreyer, University of Miami

No one is in a better position than Robert G. Sutter to write about the evolving role of the US Congress in America's China policy since the beginning of engagement with China in the 1970s. This authoritative book draws from Sutter's personal experiences as a research staff in Congress and his thorough research as a scholar. Anyone interested in the US-China relation, US foreign policy, Chinese foreign policy, and great power dynamics cannot afford to miss this unique and fascinating book.--Suisheng Zhao, University of Denver and editor of Journal of Contemporary China Robert G. Sutter brings a half-century of first-hand experience as a respected scholar of US-China relations and former Congressional staff member, and he has written the definitive study of this highly important, but neglected, aspect of the Sino-American relationship. It should be read by every member of Congress and all those who seek to understand the dynamics of US policies towards China.--David Shambaugh, George Washington University Robert G. Sutter, currently teaching at George Washington University and a former National Intelligence Officer for East Asia and the Pacific at the National Intelligence Council, presents a clear-eyed, dispassionate view of U.S. China policy since the Nixon-Mao era, arguing that congress has never been more important in policymaking than in the past five-plus years of America's hardening against Chinese challenges and predicting that the its influence ill endure for the foreseeable future.--June Teufel Dreyer, University of Miami

Author Information

Robert G. Sutter is professor of international affairs in the Elliott School of International Affairs (ESIA) at George Washington University.

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