Rick Perlstein reviewed in The Nation three recent titles ( The China Fantasy by James Mann, Nixon and Mao by Margaret MacMillan and Washington's China by James Peck) about the changing perceptions of U.S. policy on China of the Cold War until today . The partly very detailed article makes clear that the American policy as an accomplice of business interests today denied a realistic assessment of China's power politics. Equally clear, however, is how little had to do the various aspects of American mandarins on Capitol Hill, each with the Chinese realities.
America's image of China changes with whiplash speed. What never changes is the sort of people propounding the images: the Kristof, the Clintons, the Sandy Berger; before them, the Alsop, the Trumans, the Dulleses, and back behind them, men Whose names are unfamiliar to us but Whose sociological and psychological profiles are the same - mandarins of American power, unshakable in their confidence that the natural and transparent truth about China just happens to coincide with America's interests at any given time and to the well-being of the about-to-be-uplifted Chinese masses.Further reading of the sometimes very sarcastic and therefore entertaining read article here you go !
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