Overview

The trading relationship between the United States and China, though now robust, was a recent and hardly inevitable development. Political animosity stemming from the Korean War and America's subsequent strategic embargo of China broke off economic and cultural ties. Following two decades of China's international isolation, as the United States sought to realign the geopolitical order in the 1970s, Washington began to engineer a restoration of its relationship with China. Diplomatic historians have carefully documented the formal and governmental intrigues of Nixon, Kissinger, Mao, and Zhou Enlai. As this book shows, a vigorous reconstruction of bilateral ties was unfolding simultaneously at the level of informal diplomacy, especially in the realm of US-China trade. Central to understanding the renewal of bilateral commerce is the National Council for United States-China Trade, an organization that, although nongovernmental, was established in 1973 with Washington's encouragement and oversight. The Council organized major American corporations not only to engage in commercial exchanges with China, but also to function as a diplomatic backchannel between Washington and Beijing before the two nations restored formal relations in 1979. Using the Council to historicize the entangling of the American and Chinese economies, Forgotten Vanguard not only reveals globalization's contingent path but also exposes the hidden importance of informal trade diplomacy in building the modern US-China relationship. This book will appeal to those with an interest in Cold War history, international relations, and the history of American diplomacy, with particular emphases on informal diplomacy and the modern history of the US-China economic relationship.

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9780268102975

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Reviews

""This highly-readable volume exposes the drama of the development of America’s business involvement with the People's Republic of China. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the many realities of how today’s 'mutually beneficial' US-China economic symbiosis emerged and paved the way for the interdependent relationship it is today."" —Nick Ludlow, founding editor, The China Business Review ""The relationship between the United States and China is at the heart of the international order of the twenty-first century, and trade between the two giants has recently become one of the most contentious issues of contemporary American politics. Christian Talley has written a brilliant, engaging, and even surprising history of the early years of these economic ties, emphasizing the contingent nature of this relationship and the ways American business, through the National Council for United States-China Trade, helped serve larger national security objectives. His book could not be a more important and timely account for both policymakers and scholars alike in understanding why and how we have come to our present situation, and the difficult choices and dilemmas we face in the future."" —Thomas Schwartz, Vanderbilt University ""Presidents Nixon and Carter justifiably get credit for normalizing American relations with China, but there were several organizations that played key supporting roles. Christian Talley has done us an important service in this volume assessing the role of the National Council for United States–China Trade in the development of Sino-American official relations in the decade after Nixon's 1972 visit to China. The Council and its leaders were involved in sometimes dramatic developments along with outreach and consensus building among the business community, in Congress, and with specialists and the media about the significance of economic ties between the two countries."" —Robert Sutter, George Washington University “China is the number one trading partner of the United States. Today, Sino-US trade has rocketed to more than $580 billion annually. The swift development of this relationship is without precedent in the history of international trade. A pioneer in this promising partnership was an organization known today as the US-China Business Council. The contribution of the Council in fostering trade relations with China is the story told by Christian Talley in his important and entertaining book Forgotten Vanguard.” Gene Theroux, senior counsel emeritus, Baker & McKenzie LLP “Talley was the first researcher to analyze the records of the NCUSCT and to place them within the larger context of U.S.-China relations. . . . a very impressive contribution to understanding the historical background to what has become on of the most important international issues of our time.” —H-Diplo Roundtable Review

Presidents Nixon and Carter justifiably get credit for normalizing American relations with China, but there were several organizations that played key supporting roles. Christian Talley has done us an important service in this volume assessing the role of the National Council for U.S.-China Trade in the development of Sino-American official relations in the decade after Nixon's 1972 visit to China. The Council and its leaders were involved in sometimes dramatic developments along with outreach and consensus building among the business community, in Congress, and with specialists and the media about the significance of economic ties between the two countries. --Robert Sutter, George Washington University The relationship between the United States and China is at the heart of the international order of the twenty-first century, and trade between the two giants has recently become one of the most contentious issues of contemporary American politics. Christian Talley has written a brilliant, engaging, and even surprising history of the early years of these economic ties, emphasizing the contingent nature of this relationship and the ways American business, through the National Council for US-China Trade, helped serve larger national security objectives. His book could not be a more important and timely account for both policymakers and scholars alike in understanding why and how we have come to our present situation, and the difficult choices and dilemmas we face in the future. --Thomas Schwartz, Vanderbilt University

Presidents Nixon and Carter justifiably get credit for normalizing American relations with China, but there were several organizations that played key supporting roles. Christian Talley has done us an important service in this volume assessing the role of the National Council for U.S.-China Trade in the development of Sino-American official relations in the decade after Nixon's 1972 visit to China. The Council and its leaders were involved in sometimes dramatic developments along with outreach and consensus building among the business community, in Congress, and with specialists and the media about the significance of economic ties between the two countries. --Robert Sutter, George Washington University The relationship between the United States and China is at the heart of the international order of the twenty-first century, and trade between the two giants has recently become one of the most contentious issues of contemporary American politics. Christian Talley has written a brilliant, engaging, and even surprising history of the early years of these economic ties, emphasizing the contingent nature of this relationship and the ways American business, through the National Council for US-China Trade, helped serve larger national security objectives. His book could not be a more important and timely account for both policymakers and scholars alike in understanding why and how we have come to our present situation, and the difficult choices and dilemmas we face in the future. --Thomas Schwartz, Vanderbilt University China is the number one trading partner of the United States. Today, Sino-US trade has rocketed to more than $580 billion annually. The swift development of this relationship is without precedent in the history of international trade. A pioneer in this promising partnership was an organization known today as the US-China Business Council. The contribution of the Council in fostering trade relations with China is the story told by Christian Talley in his important and entertaining book Forgotten Vanguard. --Gene Theroux, senior counsel emeritus, Baker & McKenzie LLP This highly-readable volume exposes the drama of the development of America's business involvement with the People's Republic of China. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the many realities of how today's 'mutually beneficial' US-China economic symbiosis emerged and paved the way for the interdependent relationship it is today. --Nick Ludlow, founding editor, The China Business Review

Author Information

Christian Talley is a writer and independent scholar. He received a graduate degree from the University of Oxford.

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