R: Appease China

Whether the election goes to Willard Mitt Romney or Barack Hussein Obama, China relations will certainly continue to be a major part of American foreign policy. What should be the United States' attitude towards the PRC? Is China a rising power that we have to appease for our long-term economic and military security? Is the People's Republic hiding its true ambitions? Or should we believe Hu?

Forecasters and international relations analysts have simultaneously been predicting China's continued rise (see above) and its coming decline (also see Friedman, George). What are the attitudes amongst the Chinese people? Does their government share their convictions? And should America continue to engage in unmitigated trade and diplomacy - despite China's many human rights violations - in the hope of gradual transformation? Mitt Romney has advocated for tougher economic and human rights dialogue with China. Do we have a moral obligation to assert American values, or are these kinds of tactics brash foreign policy?