The Carter Legacy with China and Beyond

FPI Senior Fellow David M. Lampton spoke at a panel called “The Legacy of Engagement: The History & Controversy of U.S.-China Relations,” hosted by the Carter Center on January 9-10, 2024.

“Before narrowing my focus to China, I want recognize the scale of President Carter’s ambitions and accomplishments. Considering simply the realm of foreign policy, President Carter brought a long relative peace to three strategic areas of the world with: The Panama Canal Treaty (1977); The Camp David Agreement (1978) between Egypt and Israel; and, of course, the reason we are here today, the normalization of diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China effective January 1, 1979. In the latter bold move, he changed my life and the lives of everyone in this room. History has judged all three of these moves to have been wise, far-sighted.

One central thread to Jimmy Carter’s approach to China, as my panel colleague Jonathan Alter said in his biography of Jimmy Carter (His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life”, p. 421), has been that the president sees China as “evolving”, not frozen, believing that America’s best approach to that complex and ever-changing country is fostering positive voices and trends, finding common ground, implementing a policy of patience, and taking the long view. In normalizing formal ties with China, he was in a hurry to implement a policy grounded in patience and appealing to the better angels in our two societies. President Carter, initially, paid a political price for his policy of patience, but his wisdom has paid off handsomely for America, China, Asia, and the world during the 45 years since.”

Read the full speech on U.S.-China Perception Monitor.