Living with China as a Great Power

China has resumed its traditional power position in Asia. It is beset by economic difficulties aggravated by the Sino-Soviet dispute but has not renounced its determination to become the dominant power in Asia. The United States, once committed to upholding the Open Door policy in China, now is bound by an alliance with Formosa and maintains a policy of complete nonintercourse with mainland China. That policy, besides being written into law, is sustained in its present form by strong interests. American efforts to get others to follow its policy line, however, are of declining effectiveness. Other countries are interested especially in trends in the China trade, now shifting somewhat toward "capitalist" countries. The United States cannot share in that trade just for the asking; Formosa is the block. The American China policy thus is in volved in the China issue in the United Nations. Trends there favor a "two Chinas" solution. The joint American-Formosan position can only deteriorate, not improve, in the United Nations. It will take long to adjust our relationship with China, but the matter should be undertaken, by progressive steps initiated now, looking toward the ultimate resolution of the Formosa problem. Only then can the United States deal effectively with China.