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US-China rivalry traces back to America’s first China voyage

A new SCMP Economy history piece links early American access to Qing-era Canton with today’s competition over trade, technology, and security.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Trade & Tariffs

SCMP Economy describes how the United States and China, now the world’s two largest economies, became locked in an escalating struggle over trade, technology, and security, shaped by the relationship that began with early transpacific contact.

The article recalls that in February 1784 a converted privateer, the Empress of China, sailed from New York bound for Qing-ruled China, reaching Canton about six months later. At the time, Canton was the only port where the Qing government allowed Western maritime trade.

It notes that the timing coincided with the infancy of the United States, with the Declaration of Independence less than a decade old and the Treaty of Paris recognizing American independence signed less than a year earlier.

Over roughly two and a half centuries, the outlet argues that the meaning of China for Washington has repeatedly shifted, moving from a coveted market to an admired civilization, and from a missionary destination to a strategic rival.

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