<P> After Tiananmen Square, Sino - US relations deteriorated sharply, falling to their worst since the 1960s, with Beijing accusing the US of "a decades - long conspiracy to subvert Chinese socialism". The 2 - 1 / 2 years from 1989 to 1992 also witnessed a revival of hard - line Maoist ideologies and increased paranoia by the PRC as communist regimes collapsed in Eastern Europe . Nonetheless, China continued to seek foreign business and investment . </P> <P> Sino - US military ties and arms sales were abruptly terminated in 1989 and as of 2017 have never been restored . </P> <P> In 1996, the PRC conducted military exercises in the Taiwan Strait in an apparent effort to intimidate the Republic of China electorate before the pending presidential elections, triggering the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis . The United States dispatched two aircraft carrier battle groups to the region . Subsequently, tensions in the Taiwan Strait diminished and relations between the US and the PRC improved, with increased high - level exchanges and progress on numerous bilateral issues, including human rights, nuclear proliferation, and trade . China's paramount leader Jiang Zemin visited the United States in the fall of 1997, the first state visit to the US by a PRC president since 1985 . In connection with that visit, the two sides came to a consensus on implementation of their 1985 agreement on Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation, as well as a number of other issues . President Clinton visited the PRC in June 1998 . He traveled extensively in mainland China, and had direct interaction with the Chinese people, including live speeches and a radio show which allowed the President to convey a sense of American ideals and values . President Clinton was criticized by some, however, for failing to pay adequate attention to human rights abuses in mainland China . </P> <P> Relations were damaged for a time by the United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in May 1999, which was stated by the White House to be miscoordination between intelligence and the military, although which some Chinese believed to be deliberate . In any case, Beijing for several days was rocked by massive anti-US demonstrations . By the end of 1999, relations began to gradually improve . In October 1999, the two countries reached an agreement on compensation for families of those who were victims, as well as payments for damages to respective diplomatic properties in Belgrade and China . Sino - US relations in 1999 were also damaged by accusations that a Chinese - American scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory had given US nuclear secrets to Beijing . </P>

A contract between a company in the us and one in china