The Perennial Pivot to Beijing
Here's what they buried in paragraph 15, or rather, what the entire premise obscures: FIRST INSTANCE: The Kissinger Doctrine and Triangular Diplomacy (1971): The initial high-level US engagement with China, secretively arranged by Henry Kissinger, was explicitly designed to leverage China against the Soviet Union. While superficially about 'opening China,' the deeper strategic intent was a power
play, documented in Kissinger's memoirs and declassified State Department files (National Archives, 2004). The 'trade' aspect then was nascent; the 'global stability' focus was the Cold War equilibrium. REPETITIONS: The Clinton Administration and MFN Status (1990s): Throughout the 1990s, particularly during the Clinton administration, debates over China's Most Favored Nation (MFN) trade status
became an annual ritual. Each year, human rights concerns in China were theoretically linked to trade benefits, yet MFN status was consistently renewed. The arguments then, as now, framed as 'engagement for change' or 'managing complex relations,' served to rationalize maintaining a lucrative economic relationship despite documented and persistent human rights abuses (Human Rights Watch, 1999
reports). This established the precedent of decoupling rhetoric from actionable consequences. REPETITIONS: The Bush-Obama Era and 'Strategic Economic Dialogue' (2006-2016): Under both George W. Bush and Barack Obama, the US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) became a flagship mechanism. These dialogues, spanning multiple administrations, consistently featured discussions on trade imbalances,