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A FRAGILE RELATIONSHIP: The United States and China since 1972. By Harry Harding. Washington (D.C.): Brookings Books (The Brookings Institution). 1992. xvi, 458 pp. (Figures, tables.) US$15.95, paper. ISBN 0-8157-3466-2.
THIS BOOK is the most systematic and detailed study available of U.S. China relations since the 1972 rapprochement. It holds equal usefulness as a scholarly monograph, university-level textbook, and policy study. While the book was written in the heat of the aftermath of the Tiananmen massacre and in the midst of the Most Favored Nation trade status debate, its principal value lies in its historical approach.
The text is organized chronologically, covering the period 1972-1992. This approach provides not only an unmatched chronicle and careful assessment of events, but also provides a sense of the evolving relationship (something missing in most studies that emphasize current policy issues). From this temporal perspective, the reader gains an appreciation of patterns in the relationship and the variables that have proven vexing over time.
The principal pattern that emerges is that of fluctuation, and the main cause of the illusive...