Apec And The China-us Relations

APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) has been the largest organization for regional cooperation in the Asia-Pacific area, even in the world by now. Since it was founded in 1989, it has exerted more and more impacts on the Asia- Pacific area, even on the world. The United States and China are the two major influential countries in the Asia- Pacific area. How the Sino-US relations develop is crucial to the peace and development of the Asia- Pacific area. Meanwhile, the development and change of the Asia-Pacific affairs also affect Sino-US relations all the time. Because the United States and China are the two major actors in APEC, it is valuable to study how APEC takes effects on Sino-US relations. Sino-US relations have gone through a lot of twists and turns since the end of cold war. However, APEC has provided a special contacting channel for the two countries and pushed forward the development of Sino-US relations. Through APEC channel, the two countries strengthened communication and ties, increased their mutual understanding and drew Sino-US relations which had been on the crisis verge for many times back to the normal path.The first chapter mainly studies the evolution of APEC and its institutional characteristics. APEC was founded under the background in which many factors interacted: l.Many new changes had happened in the international politics and world economy; 2. Asia-Pacific economy had increased continuously at a high speed and the regional economies had been interdependent more and more closely; 3. The practical activities of Asia- Pacific regionalists had provided rich experience. Though APEC underwent a painstaking process, it has made remarkable achievements. From its founding as a ministerial-level meeting of twelve economies in 1989, it has developed into an organization of twenty-one economies now. APEC has set trade and investment liberalization, facilitation and economic and technological cooperation namely three pillars as its cooperative contents and programmed concrete plans. The cooperative areas of APEC were extended to those of politics and security after Shanghai summit meeting in 2001. So far APEC has formed a set of relatively perfect framework. APEC approach represents one of new models of the regional economic cooperation. It has such following features: adhering to open regionalism, acknowledging actors' diversity, emphasizing flexibility, gradualness and openness, abiding by mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit, consensus and voluntarism; and adopting the combination of individual and collective actions. APEC Approach is of great importance to the international politics and has made the first step to establish the new order in the Asia-Pacific area.The second chapter studies separately the APEC policy of the United States and China. APEC is the first regional cooperation organization that China joined, so it plays significant role in China's achieving its economic and diplomatic strategy. China insists that APEC should adhere to mutualrespect, equality, benefit, openness and co-prosperity, that APEC should be a consultative forum rather than an exclusive and rigid economic group. China has done what it could do for APEC. With China's more opening to the outside world and being stronger in its economy, it will play more and more important role in APEC. The Annual Summit in Shanghai in 2001 made great achievement, which was one of remarkable contributions China has made to APEC. The United States takes APEC as a tool (The new Asia-Pacific Community) to realizing its Asia-Pacific strategy, makes use of APEC in realizing its economic interest in the Asia-Pacific area and impedes European Union and Japan. It maintains that APEC should become a free trade zone with legal constraints. It has played a leading role in the construction of some APEC institution, in the trade and investment liberalization, and propelled APEC to expand its cooperative areas beyond the economic ones.The third chapter studies the impacts of APEC on Sino-US political and security relations...