Beyond National Interests: Searching for a Perpetual Explanation for ChinaU.S. Relationship in the 1990s Wang Dong (27) Over the past decade, Americans and Chinese have witnessed numerous peaks and valleys in SinoU.S. relations. The question that has puzzled many ob s ervers of this relationship is: Can SinoU.S. relations be explained by a serie s of discrete, systemic variables? Or, is the relationship a random outcome of in determinate forces? This paper, as an effort to go beyond the realpolitik view a nd “national interests” approach, tries to provide a perceptual dimension of u nderstanding the bilateral relationship. Hypotheses drawn from sociopsychologi c al theories are tested through a detailed case study of SinoU.S. strategic int e ractions during the 19951996 Taiwan Missile Crisis. The study identifies sever a l possible sources of misperceptions that contributed to the escalation of the c risis. At the end of the article, the author proposes a framework for explaining relations between nations. By paying attention to the role of perceptions as th ey work within a system of other domestic political variables, this new framewor k helps to achieve some new understanding of the SinoU.S. relationship during the 1990s.