Discourse, Images, Policy: Sino-US Relations Then and Now

Throughout the relevant literatures American imagery of China has been consistently misrepresented and underestimated. Specifically, that imagery has been predominantly conceived in relatively superficial terms, as overtly positive ornegative attitudes and opinions vulnerable to shifts at given moments. Thesignificance of that imagery to US China policy has also been largely ignored. The aim of this paper is to re-evaluate American images of China so that they may beacknowledged as inextricable from discourse and identity processes and with thecapacity to endure across extended periods of time. Further, it is to demonstrate that those images have always been actively complicit within the enactment andjustification of US China policy. To achieve this joint aim three historical moments in Sino-US relations are examined. During each of these moments it is shown that the particular image of ‘Uncivilised China’ has remained especially prominent withinAmerican imaginations, ultimately proving central to policy making decisions inWashington.