摘要
January 1, 1999 marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomaticties between China and the United Slates. Over the past two decades, the bi-lateral relationship has traversed a bumpy path of a "para-strategic partnership" inthe eighties, of "cold confrontation" in the first half of the nineties and of a "rela-tively stable development" in the past two years or so. The two decades have witnessed uninterrupted explorations for a mutually ac-ceptable strategic definition of bilateral relations, which have been characterized