Beyond Tiananmen: the Politics of U.S.-China Relations, 1989-2000

Parameters, Autumn, 2004 by Andrew Scobell

Beyond Tiananmen: The Politics of U.S.-China Relations, 1989-2000. By Robert L. Suettinger. Washington: Brookings Institution Press, 2003. 556 pages. $39.95.

This volume is the most recent in a flurry of fascinating histories of US-China relations in the late 20th century. Beyond Tiananmen may not be the most compelling or dramatic account of this tumultuous relationship, but it is certainly the most authoritative and thorough. Other books written by journalists such as James Mann (About Face), Patrick Tyler (A Great Wall), or academics such as David Lampton (Same Bed, Different Dreams), are well worth reading, but none of them offers the wealth of detail and level of insight that Robert Suettinger provides.

This book is very much an insider account by a career national security analyst. Suettinger witnessed many of the events he writes about or was, at the very least, privy to the inner workings of the administrations of George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Refreshingly, this insider account comes without any apparent ax to grind, and Suettinger provides a remarkably evenhanded account. Moreover, the author's insights and firsthand detail are reinforced by extensive research in print sources and by interviews with key US players on China policy.

Suettinger sets out to highlight the role of domestic politics in driving the relationship both in the United States and China, and in this endeavor he succeeds quite admirably. However, one deficiency with Beyond Tiananmen, as with the other books listed above, is a serious asymmetry in the coverage of bilateral relations. While the reader gains an enormous amount of knowledge about China policymaking inside the Beltway, considerably less detail is provided about similar dynamics in Beijing. This is attributable to the fact that researchers are afforded such limited access to Chinese decisionmakers, and publications on many topics are severely restricted. As a result, analysts have little choice but to engage in informed speculation. In fairness to Suettinger, he makes a noble effort to address the imbalance. Indeed, in this reviewer's opinion, he does a better job of reading the Chinese tea leaves than any of the other accounts mentioned above.

Despite this, one stereotype that the author perpetuates is that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the ultimate bastion of ultra-nationalism, Chinese xenophobia (including rabid anti-Americanism), and conservatism. Of course, there is often a significant kernel of truth embedded in a stereotype, and this instance is no exception. Suettinger tends to attribute the Chinese military with being largely responsible for a good number of harsh changes in Chinese policy. This reviewer is not convinced that the evidence warrants quite such a negative and severe picture of the PLA. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile keeping in mind that soldiers in any country tend to be more staunchly nationalistic and hardline on matters of national security than the population at large. In any event, what is beyond dispute--and what Suettinger makes very clear--is that significant numbers of Chinese leaders, analysts, and ordinary people--both civilian and military--harbor deep suspicions and considerable distrust about the United States, particularly regarding US intentions vis-a-vis China. Events such as the accidental bombing of China's embassy in Belgrade in 1999, the EP-3 airplane incident two years later, and US military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq in the ongoing Global War on Terrorism fuel these suspicions. And to a considerable extent these suspicions are mirrored in the United States.

But what Suettinger's commendable effort to peel back the layers of secrecy does is to highlight the civil-military divide as a key fault-line in Chinese politics. His strong coverage of the Tiananmen Massacre of 1989 and its aftermath, for example, serves to underscore the centrality of the PLA. In the first instance it was the military that preserved the Communist Party's monopoly on political power by crushing dissent in the streets of Beijing. In the second instance, it was a cabal of senior generals who seemed to be laying the groundwork to dominate political power after Deng Xiaoping's death. One of Deng's most important acts in the early 1990s was to ensure that a core of these senior military leaders--two brothers, Yang Shangkun and Yang Baibing--were quickly forced into retirement. This act permitted Deng's designated successor, Jiang Zemin, who had no military experience or base of support in the PLA, the opportunity to establish himself in power and the time to build up his credentials with, and supporters in, the armed forces.

Beyond Tiananmen is an important reminder that despite the best intentions of policymakers and the skillful designs of strategists, foreign policy is more often than not greatly constrained by domestic political dynamics beyond their control. Nowhere has this been more so than with relations between Washington and Beijing since 1989. The mutual suspicions and complexities of bilateral relations evident in the first decade of the 21st century should ensure that the United States and China continue to live in interesting times.