China’s military leadership pushed for confrontation with the United States

Evidence

The most important group in China with an antagonistic view toward the United States was the military, who, apparently, regularly pressured the government to take a tougher line with the United States. In June 1993, 100 Chinese generals reportedly sent a letter to Deng complaining of the government’s “passive” policy toward the United States and its failure to resist U.S. efforts to “blackmail” China. In the fall of that year a confidential Chinese government document outlined the military’s reasons for conflict with the United States: “Because China and the United States have longstanding conflicts over their different ideologies, social systems, and foreign policies, it will prove impossible to fundamentally improve Sino-U.S. relations.” — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 600

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The Vietnam War’s real stake was integrating China into world order — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 131