How to Integrate Human Rights into U.S.-China Relations

When to press China’s leadership on human rights, how hard, and with what tools has been an ever-changing calculation, as successive U.S. administrations have tried to balance America’s strategic and economic interests in the expanding U.S.-China relationship with America’s leadership as an advocate for and protector of universal rights and freedoms.

Today, China is not only an Asian power, but an emerging global power with the capacity to help or hinder U.S. policy on a broad range of issues. As a result, the imperative for the United States to have a cooperative, productive, stable relationship with China grows. And as it grows, so does the temptation for the U.S. government to place human rights further down the priority list on the agenda.