Since their establishment, bilateral relations between the United States of America and China have changed over time. Bilateral relations between the two countries have emerged since the 1970s with 'Ping-Pong' diplomacy and there have been many lulls in their mutual relations. The United States and China cooperated economically and militarily, and mutual relations grew enormously until the late 1990s. The heads of the two states began to visit each other's countries and economic ties strengthened year after year. However, human rights and free speech issues have worsened Sino-US mutual relations. The American principle of promoting democracy and protecting human rights has minimized Sino-American relations after the 1989 Tiananmen Square events, when US Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton played a key role in bringing about the further American foreign policy towards China. To better understand the Tiananmen conflict and its influence on future American relations with the People's Republic of China, this paper provides a brief overview of bilateral relations until 1990. Historically, the United States and China have not had good relations due to China's political regime. Furthermore, China was not so economically developed as to be able to have trade or any kind of relationship with the United States. According to some historical data, the first China-US negotiations at the ambassadorial level began on August 1, 1955. Bilateral relations between America and China consist of several stages. The first phase of US-China relations began in 1971, when both opened the doors to financial and economic ties. The trade volume of these countries amounted to 4 US dollars...... half of the paper......llenges for the US” NBR Analysis, December 1990, http://www.nbr.org/publications/ issue .aspx?id=143#.UpdHWcRdWGO8. Turner, Oliver, “Sino-American Relations Then and Now: Discourse, Images, Politics,” Political Perspectives 2011, vol. 5 (3), 27-45, http://www.politicalperspectives.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Sino-US-relations1.pdf9. Wang, Hui, “US-China Bonds and Tensions,” RAND Corporation, 257-288, n.d., http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1300/MR1300.ch12.pdf10 . Yuan, Jing-Dong, “Sino-American Military Relations since Tiananmen: Restoration, Progress, and Pitfalls,” Spring 2003, http://strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/parameters/articles/03spring/yuan.pdf11. Yan, Xuetong. “The Instability of China-US Relations,” The Chinese Journal of International Politics 3, no. 3 (2010): 263-292, http://cjip.oxfordjournals.org/content/3/3/263.full