Living with the Dragon.

• Author: Jue, Stanton
• Position: Book review

Living with the Dragon

Reviewed by Stanton Jue

Living with the Dragon: How the American Public Views the Rise of China, Benjamin I. Page & Tao Xie, Columbia Univ. Press: New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-231-15208-2 (cloth), 212 pp., $27.50

Living with the Dragon is a compact, cogent, and insightful volume to help American political leaders and the general public alike to understand the twists and turns of U. S.-China relations and China's rapid rise in recent times. Professors Benjamin Page and Tao Xie researched and used an extensive collection of surveys conducted by various polling organizations to find the correlation between public opinion and China policymaking in Washington since the People's Republic of China was established in 1949. The authors clearly reflect the mainstream views and interpretation of America's policy of engagement, not confrontation, with China.

This book contains 121 pages of textual materials in six chapters, with extensive statistics, percentages, major surveys, graphics, and footnotes to present a comprehensive picture of how the American public views China's rapid rise, which is in the opinion of many analysts the most important bilateral relationship in the world today.

Chapter 1 interprets the survey data to delineate the relationship between public opinion and U.S. China policy. Chapter 2 addresses the economic rise. Chapter 3 describes the rise of China as a global player in various fields. Chapter 4 delves into human rights and democracy issues. Chapter 5 investigates American perception of a rising China as friend or enemy. And Chapter 6 looks into the future to highlight some risks and opportunities.

For a period of time following China's reemergence from self-imposed isolation, there was much ignorance and misinformation about each other by both China and the United States. Chinese military leaders and academics often described U.S. policy and intentions as conspiratorial to contain China as illustrated by forming military alliances with countries in China's periphery, continuing arms sales to Taiwan, supporting Tibetan and Uighur dissidents, and conducting other activities blatantly interfering in China's internal affairs. On the other hand, American public opinion toward China followed the ebb and flow of events but for most part was moderate and measured, even though a small number viewed China as an enemy or potential enemy.

As public opinion data illustrate, the dramatic rise of China has caused...