Sino-American relations are characterized by the American President Obama as the 'most important bilateral relations in the world.' With China’s rise to the level of world power, the state of this pivotal relationship is increasingly impacting the rest of the world for better or worse? This course introduces students to the geopolitical, domestic, and ideological factors that have shaped the Sino-American relationship in the past and the present. It examines the military, economic, and diplomatic dimensions of current interactions to arrive at a clearer understanding of the past trajectory, present state, and possible future direction of relations between the United States and China.

CILO-1: Explain the basic concepts in international relations and Chinese foreign policy. CILO-2: Apply theories of comparative politics to explain the differences between China and the US. CILO-3: Make critical causal arguments on essential topics in US-China Relations. CILO-4: Apply the basic concepts for studying advanced-level courses in International Relations, International Political Economy, and China Politics.