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The purpose of the course is to provide the students with a historical overview of the long and complicated Sino-American relations, with a special focus on the U.S. approach to the problem of divided China. The course will deal with diplomacy and war, mutual perceptions, and hot issues in the mutual relations arising from the existence of the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China in Taiwan. We will also focus on the recent developments in the relations, development of the PLA, trade issues, Taiwan’s democratization and drive to independence, etc. This course will take you through 150 years (at least) of U.S.-China relations and will establish a basic understanding of key historical issues, upon which Beijing and Washington built their relations in the 21st century.
This course primarily focuses on the history of the evolution of the relation between the U.S. and China (the term "China" being the umbrella word for the ROC, the PRC, and Taiwan). The current issues in Sino-American relations will be explored in the summer semester in a course called "Critical Issues in U.S.-Chinese Relations". The course is taught in English and ends with an exam. The course is open only for students of master's degree programmes. Cílem kurzu je poskytnout studentům historický přehled dlouhodobých a složitých sino-amerických vztahů se zvláštním zaměřením na přístup USA k problému rozdělené Číny. Kurz se bude zabývat diplomacií a válkou, vzájemnými percepcemi a klíčovými otázkami vzájemných vztahů vyplývajícími z existence Čínské lidové republiky a Čínské republiky na Tchaj-wanu. Zaměříme se rovněž na nedávný vývoj ve vztazích, vývoj Lidové osvobozenecké armády, obchodní otázky, demokratizaci Tchaj-wanu a jeho snahy o nezávislost apod. Tento kurz studenty provede alespoň 150 lety sino-amerických vztahů a poskytne základní porozumění klíčovým historickým otázkám, na jejichž základě Peking a Washington budovali své vztahy ve 21. století. Kurz se primárně zaměřuje na dějiny vývoje vztahů mezi USA a Čínou (pojem „Čína“ zde slouží jako zastřešující označení pro Čínskou republiku, Čínskou lidovou republiku a Tchaj-wan). Aktuální otázky sino-amerických vztahů budou probírány v letním semestru v kurzu „Kritické otázky čínsko-amerických vztahů“. Kurz je vyučován v angličtině a zakončen zkouškou. Last update: Hrubá Kateřina, Mgr. (28.01.2026)
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Upon successful completion of this course the student will understand the evolution of the Sino-American relations, will identify the major conflicts and tensions related particularly to the Taiwan issue. Students will also become familiar with the guiding principles and documents in Sino-American relations. The understanding of the historical background is essential to being able to understand some of the current tensions in the Sino-American relations. By studying the behaviour of China, Taiwan and the U.S. in numerous case studies, the students also will be able to understand some of the basic patterns in China’s, Taiwan’s and U.S. behaviour.
Last update: Sehnálková Jana, Mgr., Ph.D. (27.08.2025)
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Grading is based on the Dean's Measure no. 20/2019: https://fsv.cuni.cz/deans-measure-no-20/2019
Last update: Sehnálková Jana, Mgr., Ph.D. (27.08.2025)
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- selection of articles covering individual issues in the relationship between the U.S. and China, which will be made available online - via Moodle - in the class, we will use handouts and powerpoints, powerpoint presentations and references to material available on the internet will be distributed during the course or it will be made available at the course’s webpage. Last update: Sehnálková Jana, Mgr., Ph.D. (27.08.2025)
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This course represents a survey of Sino-American relations and will rely primarily on lectures to introduce the basic events, concepts, and policies. However, each class will include space for discussions related to the assigned reading.
All course material is available in Moodle:https://dl2.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=6005 The use and citation of generative AI tools (such as ChatGPT or MS Copilot) in seminar papers and Last update: Sehnálková Jana, Mgr., Ph.D. (03.10.2025)
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Requirements: ● 20% Regular attendance and ctive participation in the class: students are expected to follow major events related to the area of the Taiwan Strait, as current hot topics may be raised in the class. ● 30% Position paper on a selected article - topic/selection must be consulted in advance. ● 50% final written exam: there will be three dates provided for the exam during the exam period. If you fail, you may sit again for the exam in the subsequent date.
EXAM: Please notet that the final written exam will be administer via Moodle. Instructions will be sent via email and will be available in the individual terms for the exam. Signup for exam will take place traditionally via SIS where dates for the exam will be available.
GRADING SCALE, based on Dean's Measure no. 17/2023 (SMĚRNICE S_SO_002):
Last update: Sehnálková Jana, Mgr., Ph.D. (27.08.2025)
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Please note that in 2025-2026, there is no class on Oct 27 (Dean´s Day) and on Nov 17 (National holiday). Below is the syllabus for winter semester 2025-2026. TOPICS COVERED Class 1: Orientation and Introduction, First Contacts in Sino-American Relations - origins of Sino-American relations, the concept of ‘100 years of China’s humiliation’, basic Chinese geography
Class 2: Early Contacts during Turmoil in China - Chinese immigration to the U.S. and its impact on Sino-American relations, rise of nationalism in China, reform movement, fall of the Qing dynasty, formation of modern China - the Founding of the Republic of China (Sun Yat-sen, the KMT, the CCP, Civil War)
Class 3: U.S.-China Alliance During WWII and Truman’s Loss of China - U.S. engagement in Civil War, U.S.: "loss of China", establishment of the PRC, U.S. approach to the PRC and to the ROC government, which moved to Taiwan.
Class 4: Eisenhower and Cross-Strait Tension - Korean War and Taiwan 1950 - de-neutralization of Taiwan, Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty 1954, Taiwan Straits question, U.S. - PRC Warsaw Talks, 1958
Class 5: Kennedy, Johnson Administration’s Approach to China - Kennedy and China’s nuclear program - Johnson’s China policy in the context of the Vietnam War.
Class 6: Sino-American Normalization (Nixon) - China’s ping-pong diplomacy, Mao Zedong-Zhou Enlai’s new attitudes towards the U.S., Nixon’s new China policy, - Shanghai Communiqué, 1972
Class 7: Political development in Taiwan in the 1950s and 1960s
Class 8: Establishment of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the PRC - Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations, 1978 - 1979, Taiwan Relations Act, 1979.
Class 9: From Establishment of Diplomatic Relations to Tienanmen - Reagan and China, Taiwan: Arms sales to Taiwan crisis; August 17 Communiqué, Reagan’s Six Assurances to Taiwan, military cooperation, trade - Tienanmen Crisis, 1989-1990
Class 10: Bush 41 and Clinton Administrations and China - Unstable U.S. - PRC Relations, 1992 - 1994: MFN crisis - Taiwan Strait Crisis 1995-1996 - Jiang Ze-min’s visit to the U.S., 1997, Clinton’s visit to Beijing and Three Nos Policy - Taiwan’s Presidential Elections, 2000 - Chen Shui-bian
Class 11: Developments in Taiwan in 1990s-2000s and relations with Mainland - Chen Shui-bian, Democratization and pro-independence tendencies in Taiwan, Taiwanisation and desinification, three mini-links and three links, anti-secession law, Taiwan’s presidential elections of 2008 and UN referendum, rise of Ma Ying-jeou.
Class 12: Bush 43 and Obama Administrations’ approach towards China - Bush’s Campaign and the issue of Taiwan and PRC, EP-3 incident (2001), arms sales to Taiwan, impact of 9/11 on Sino-American relations. Sino-American relations in the economic crisis, Obama’s approach towards China, arms sales to Taiwan, mil-to-mil, U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, the issue of RMB.
Last update: Sehnálková Jana, Mgr., Ph.D. (16.09.2025)
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English language, basic understanding of US political system and foreign-policy making, interest in history :-) Last update: Sehnálková Jana, Mgr., Ph.D. (27.08.2025)
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