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PacNet #4 – Sino-U.S. relations: drawing lessons from 2005

February 2, 2006

For observers of Sino-U.S. relations, 2005 may be remembered as the year that President George W. Bush and his Cabinet began to refer to the bilateral relationship as “complex.” The description is accurate, but it is an evident retreat from the high-water mark announced by former Secretary of State Colin Powell two years prior when he said relations were the best since President Nixon’s visit to China in 1972.