The Tibet issue in Sino-American relations: United States policy-making since rapprochement

The Tibet issue has presented a dilemma to American policy makers since U.S. rapprochement with China: supporting the demands of Tibetan nationalists might jeopardize U.S. geo-political and economic interests in maintaining a friendly relationship with China, but ignoring Tibetan demands would spawn criticism that policy makers disregard American values of democracy and freedom. This dissertation explains how U.S. administrations between 1971 and 1993 coped with the dilemma.; The dissertation analyzes each U.S. administration's strategy and tactics in handling the dilemma in the context of the changing U.S.-China relationship. It looks at the impact of the international interests involved in U.S.-China relationship, presidential predispositions, the influence of U.S. politics, and the role of Tibetan nationalists in the making of U.S. Tibet policy throughout the period under study.; The study shows that U.S. administrations have dealt with this dilemma by maintaining a balance between the concerns of the Chinese government and the demands of Tibetan nationalists that enables policy makers to protect vital U.S. interests in relations with China while keeping faith with American social values. In the balancing, they have demonstrated political pragmatism. The motive for such pragmatism has been to maximize policy makers' interests in safeguarding the essentials of U.S.-China bilateral relationship and in securing domestic support for their policies.