United States and the Conflicts and Wars of 20th Century Asia

Author: Tao Wenzhao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: Bush's Asia-Pacific strategy involves an inevitable theme, which is the rise of China. Currently, China's influence in the North Korean nuclear issue and in the non-proliferation efforts in Asia is undeniable. The U.S. strategy is based on its judgment of China's intentions and actual influence. The U.S. is concerned that with China's rise, its influence in the Asia-Pacific region is growing. To this end, the U.S. attempts to maintain its influence in Asia through multilateral arrangements: such as trying to transform the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) from an economic regional organization into a security forum. Through focused discussions in this form, some problems in our research have been exposed, prompting us to think about how to advance the study of U.S.-China relations. The author writes here to encourage fellow scholars. First, it is necessary to fully draw on existing research achievements both domestically and internationally. The first step in writing a Ph.D. or master's thesis is literature review—to see what research has been done on this issue domestically and internationally, what major works exist, and to include this section in the thesis. Peer scholars always read this part first during the review process, which demonstrates whether the author truly understands the issue. With more than 20 years of reform and opening up, many scholars have already conducted research on various issues in U.S.-China relations, or have produced relatively rich research outcomes. Some of our younger colleagues are not very familiar with these achievements, and they work hard on their research, spending a lot of time but making little progress compared to others. Second, put significant effort into digging for materials. Anyone who studies history pays attention to historical sources. Historical works cannot be written at will. Many historians have this experience: when writing, they are extremely cautious, fearing that the historical materials might be flawed. Even with great attention to this issue, problems in historical materials may still arise, and even some great historians are not immune to this.