Resolved: The United States Federal Government should substantially

increase its economic and/or diplomatic engagement with the People’s

Republic of China

The (article), used as a function word to indicate that a following noun or noun equivalent is
definite or has been previously specified by context or by circumstance
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition, 2004 (p. 1294).

United States (n), Of or from the United States of North America.

Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 1961, p. 2501.

Federal government (n), Federal Government popularly refers to the national or dominion level
of government, and in its most general sense includes the executive, legislative and judicial
branches, along with the numerous departments and agencies comprising the administrative
branch.
Anthony Wilson-Smith (Publisher), The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2014,
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/federal-government/

Should (v), used in auxiliary function to express duty, obligation, necessity

Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 1961, p. 2104.

Substantially (adv), of ample or considerable amount, quantity

Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, 2006 (Dictionary.com Unabridged,
“substantial”, http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=substantially&r=66)

Increase (v), to become greater in size, amount, duration, or degree

Oxford English Dictionary, 2012,
http://oed.com/search?searchType=dictionary&q=increase&_searchBtn=Search

Its (adj), indicating possession; used to indicate that something belongs or relates to something
Encarta 2009 (Encarta World English Dictionary,
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=1861622735)

“Economic engagement” (n.) must refer to efforts to change the behavior of the target
state.
Arda Celik, (Prof., International Studies, Uppsala U.), ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AND
ENGAGEMENT POLICIES, 2011, 11.
Economic engagement policies are strategic integration behavior which involves with the target
state. Engagement policies differ from other tools in Economic Diplomacy. They target to
deepen the economic relations to create economic intersection, interconnectedness, and mutual
dependence and finally seeks economic interdependence. This interdependence serves the sender
state to change the political behavior of the target state.

Arda Celik, (Prof., International Studies, Uppsala U.), ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AND
ENGAGEMENT POLICIES, 2011, 11.
Kahler and Kastner define the engagement policies as follows: “It is a policy of deliberately
expanding economic ties with an adversary in order to change the behavior of the target state and
improve bilateral relations.” It is an intentional economic strategy that expects bigger benefits
such as long term economic gains and, more importantly, political gains.

Miles Kahler & Scott Kastner, (Prof., International Relations, U. California at San Diego/Prof.,
Government, U. Maryland), JOURNAL OF PEACE RESEARCH, Sept. 2006, 524.
Economic engagement – a policy of deliberately expanding economic ties with an adversary in
order to change the behavior of the target state and improve bilateral political relations – is a
subject of growing interest in international relations. Most research on economic statecraft
emphasizes coercive policies such as economic sanctions. This emphasis on negative forms of
economic statecraft is not without justification: the use of economic sanctions is widespread and
well documented, and several quantitative studies have shown that adversarial relations between
countries tend to correspond to reduced, rather than enhanced, levels of trade. At the same time,
however, relatively little is known about how often strategies of economic engagement are
deployed.

NOTE: these are just a few definitions of “economic engagement.” More can
be found on this site: http://dev.nfhs.org/media/869098/topic-lecture-2013.pdf

And/or (conj.), (used to refer to both things or either one of the two mentioned) either “and” or
“or”
Cambridge Dictionary, 2016,
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/and-or

“Diplomatic Engagement” (n.)

Krain 12 Matthew Krain, Department of Political Science, The College of Wooster 2012
Forthcoming: Journal of Genocide Research

THE EFFECTS OF DIPLOMATIC SANCTIONS AND ENGAGEMENT ON THE SEVERITY OF ONGOING GENOCIDES OR
POLITICIDES

discover.wooster.edu/mkrain/files/2012/12/JGR-preprint.pdf

One set of foreign policy options available to states in such instances is the use of diplomatic engagement and/or diplomatic sanctions.10
Engagement is ‘a foreign policy strategy which depends to a significant degree on positive
incentives to achieve its objectives’.11 Types of diplomatic engagement that hold out the
greatest allure to potential target regimes include normalizing diplomatic relations with a
state, upgrading the diplomatic presence in that state, or regularizing interaction between
high and low level diplomats. These actions legitimize the actor and signal a willingness to pursue a diplomatic resolution to
disputes. They also insure more communication of information between actors, and may facilitate more effective negotiation and mediation.12
Conversely, diplomatic sanctions include ‘severing formal diplomatic ties with a country or significantly downgrading ties from the normal level
of diplomatic activity for foreign policy purposes’.13 This is usually done to signal disapproval of the target regime’s behavior, and to also signal
the possibility of subsequent punitive measures should that behavior not change. Neither diplomatic engagement nor diplomatic sanctions rule out
other options. Indeed, ‘in practice, there is often considerable overlap of strategies’.14 Unfortunately, we have little information about the effect
of either set of diplomatic actions in situations of ongoing mass killing.15

With (preposition) used to say that two or more people or things are doing something together
or are involved in something.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2016, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/with

People’s Republic of China (n.) official name (since 1949) of China.

Oxford Dictionary, 2016,
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/people's_republic_of_china