RUWITCH: The Soviet Union may be gone and the war in Vietnam long over. I have benefited from having superb students and excellent colleagues from China, as well as Taiwan. Keenly aware of the support Taiwan enjoyed in the US, especially among lawmakers, Nixon understood that "the discussions with the Chinese cannot look like a sell-out of Taiwan" or like we were "dumping our friends". On the 50th anniversary of President Nixons trip, China experts William Alford and Mark Wu discuss that history-making journey. RUWITCH: Winston Lord was 34 at the time and an aide to Kissinger. After a series of these overtures by both countries, Kissinger flew on secret diplomatic missions to Beijing in 1971, where he met with Chinese premier Zhou Enlai. inflation. As defined by the Oxford University Press, a landmark is a notable structure or characteristic of a landscape that allows you to decipher the location you are in. LORD: There were several very comfortable chairs we sat in, with tea served in between. Sky Tower, Auckland, North Island. It'll have no credibility, because how can two nations that have hated each other and fought each other and been isolated from each other for 22 years, suddenly put a document out like this that suggests they're friends?" Top 7 Landmarks in China Iconic and Renowned MARTIN: And it did. Richard Nixon - Mao Zedong | RealClearPolitics I remember as a student in Cambridge, England being excited seeing Nixons reception in Beijing covered extensively on the BBC and itching to get there. Location: Luoyang, Henan. While it was Nixon, an ardent anti-communist, who made the about-face decision to open up relations with China in 1969, Kissinger was initially sceptical and called Nixon's idea a "flight of fantasy". He was also tasked with an even more challenging job: to draft a joint statement for the presidential visit with then Chinese premier Zhou Enlai. Harvard Law Today: This is the 50th anniversary of Richard Nixons trip to China. U.S. President Nixon shakes hands with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai at, important strategic and diplomatic overture, U.S. established full diplomatic relations with the PRC, Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, visit by Deng Xiaoping to the United States, Visit by Deng Xiaoping to the United States, "China and the United States: Nixon's Legacy after 40 Years", "Ulysses S. 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Nixons announcement of his upcoming trip to China was a shock to most Americans, but the bold political gesture quickly won popular support. [28] The Beijing-Washington hotline was later created in 2007. Yun Sun, a senior fellow at the Stimson Centre in Washington, said the lessons for Beijing and Washington from Nixon's visit and creating the joint statement were quite different. Dave Roos is a freelance writer based in the United States and Mexico. The negotiations over the communique went for months, finishing when Nixon's week-long China visit had almost drawn to a close and ultimately boiling down to semantics, especially in relation to Taiwan. The second collection, Sino-American Cooperation, 1972-1989," details the new, cooperative phase in relations that followed Nixons visit in 1972 and lasted until the brutal crackdowns on Chinas pro-democracy movement in 1989. So, the fact that Nixon, as president, would be willing to embark in outreach to Beijing came as a surprise. WU: I think the discussion between the two sides kind of gave Beijing the reassurance that over time, this issue could be handled in a way satisfactory for Beijing. Alford: The U.S. and PRC were certainly not going to agree on everything and the intentional ambiguity that marked the Shanghai Communiqu proved beneficial for decades. The outreach by Nixon and [National Security Adviser Henry] Kissinger was of great consequence, of course, but the portrayal of China as entirely passive waiting for the U.S. to come along irks me. Churchill and India: Manipulation or Betrayal? RUWITCH: But the chairman did do the meeting, putting a huge stamp of approval on the controversial visit, and setting the tone in a way that only Mao could do. Whats your assessment of that? From February 21 to 28, 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon traveled to Beijing, Hangzhou, and Shanghai. "It was unprecedented, and probably the most meaningful part in the communique. What is not well understood about it? It's been 50 years since President Nixon went to China, a trip that changed the world's balance of power. RUWITCH: Wu Xinbo of Fudan University says that hasn't happened. From Shanghai, the Nixons traveled to Beijing.[16]. Only after the Nixon visit did my father dare to reach out to his brothers, leading to the family being reunited many years later. Nixon in China, opera in three acts by John Adams (with an English libretto by Alice Goodman), which premiered at the Houston Grand Opera in 1987. The fate of Taiwan was not addressed, and the issue still stalks U.S.-China relations. While Nixon publicly portrayed himself as a populist hardliner, he was a close reader of history and a shrewd strategist. Mao spoke simply and inelegantly, but clearly communicated approval of the visit and its diplomatic utility. Awhirlwind tour through three of Chinas major cities brought Nixon to several famed historical sites and cultural performances (including a revolutionary ballet), andface-to-face with many senior Chinese leaders. While it was Nixon, an ardent anti-communist, who made the about-face decision to open up relations with China in 1969, Kissinger was initially sceptical and called Nixon's idea a "flight of fantasy". It's not clear to me that PRC leaders would have accepted the Shanghai Communique if they had known the US would continue to sell arms to Taiwan," Rigger said. SCMP China Series: 50 years since Nixon visited China. The Nationalist government, supported by the Americans, fled to Taiwan, where the Republic of China (ROC) continued to be recognized by the United States and most other Western countries as the legitimate government for all of China. Wu: Gish Jen, a visiting professor in the English department, just released a new book, Thank You Mr. Nixon. Its a wonderful read. President Richard Nixon and his US entourage, along with Zhou Enlai and Jiang Qing, at a performance of "The Red Detachment of Women" in February 1972. Alford: It is no exaggeration to say that this is the most important bilateral relationship in the world. What is the meaning of Chinas rise? Charles Kraus is the Deputy Director of the History and Public Policy Program at the Wilson Center. I fear no communique can paper over this existential competition.". Every country has its landmark tourist attractions, and China is no exception. When the Chinese Communist Party gained power over mainland China in 1949 and the Kuomintang retreated to the island of Taiwan after the de facto end of the Chinese Civil War, the United States continued to recognize the Republic of China (ROC) as the sole government of China, now based out of Taipei. RUWITCH: Indeed, just months earlier, the Nixon administration had tried to keep Taiwan in the United Nations under a two-Chinas formula. Examining China's perceptions and tactics in negotiating with the United States during the Cold War, this Working Paper features an introduction by Yafeng Xia and translations of more than 30 original documents from the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Yes, China was still experiencing the turmoil of the latter years of the Cultural Revolution, but lets not forget that the PRC had its own agenda which it used the visit to help advance. 'White House Plumbers' and beyond: A viewers' guide to the Watergate And they're telling. Nixon's China Visit, 1972 | American Experience | PBS [3], Improved relations with the Soviet Union and the PRC are often cited as the most successful diplomatic achievements of Nixon's presidency. But the story is still playing itself out we are only fifty years into a historical event that may require several more decades before its eventual outcome is known. To be sure, some American academics, including Jerome Cohen, who was the founding director of Harvards East Asian Legal Studies program, had from the late 60s been urging a re-evaluation of U.S.-China policy. Kazushi Minami - Why did Mao Shake Hands with Nixon? Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Nixon's visit . By the time of Nixons visit, Mao was ailing, and his succession plans, as set forth by the 1969 Party Congress, had fallen apart. In a meeting with Taiwan's military leaders on February 26, a day before the issuance of the landmark China-US joint communique in Shanghai, Chiang told the generals that Taiwan must have a new . In fact, Nixon was scheduled to travel to meet Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev shortly after completing his visit to China. And what we have said today is that we shall build that bridge. The Prime Minister [Zhou] seeks clarity, and I am trying to achieve ambiguity.". This landmark sits on over 7-acres of land and took a total of 400 years to construct. But despite the intensity of the discussions, the Americans appeared to have failed to have "fully absorbed the centrality of Taiwan to PRC interests", according to the late US diplomat Alan Romberg, a leading expert on cross-strait relations. We understand each other very well. The media coverage of the trip was overwhelmingly positive. Although fictional, it illustrates how the Nixon visit impacted the subsequent lives of numerous Chinese American families. An overview of Richard Nixons February 1972 visit to China and associated Wilson Center publications and Digital Archive resources. Potala Palace The Potala Place in Lhasa was home to centuries of Dalai Lamas until the current Dalai Lama fled Tibet during the 1959 uprising. On February 22, 1972, the Peoples Daily printed a picture of Chairman Mao shaking hands with Richard Nixon. The Nixon trip certainly caught Taiwan off guard, as did the normalization of U.S.-PRC relations during the Carter administration. That said, it seems to me that without some measure of principled engagement (meaning an engagement in which we do not abandon our values), no global regime (be it about climate change, trade, rights or anything else) will flourish. This meeting was arranged and facilitated by Pakistan through its strong diplomatic channels with China. National Security Council staffer (and later U.S. His attacks on Jerry Voorhis and Helen Gahagan Douglas for being soft on communism were instrumental in his early electoral victories and, as Mark noted, he sought to deploy that same strategy against Kennedy in the 1960 presidential race. Although Nixon met with Chairman Mao Zedong only once during the visit, the two had a meaningful dialogue on philosophic problems in the US-China relationship. Alford: Professionally and personally, I have been a beneficiary of the trip. During the ensuing two decades, various factions in the party would fight over whether economic and political reform was necessary. This was the week that changed the world. But its fate is as unresolved as ever. Zhou Yi analyzes a speech made by a senior Chinese official at an unexpected venue - a tourism conference - in March 1975 to decode broad shifts in Chinese foreign policy at the end of the Mao era. Zhou was quoted by Lord as saying. I also think that in todays world of fragmented social media, its also much harder to pull off than it was in the early 1970s. Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? "But the United States never made clear what this meant, and the US has never subsequently clarified its formal position," commented Jerome Cohen, a law professor at New York University. And from Beijing's perspective, the U.S. is once again playing the spoiler. [10], In July 1971, President Nixon's National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger secretly visited Beijing during a trip to Pakistan, and laid the groundwork for Nixon's visit to China. George Magnus, a research associate at Oxford University's China Centre, also said Kissinger's goal was flawed in design. The U.S. had literally turned a cold shoulder to Chou in 1954, says Thomas. They also shook hands with each other, the photograph of which is probably the most famous image to come out of the trip. Fifty years ago today, President Nixon landed in Beijing for the historic weeklong trip that effectively ended the United States' long isolation from the People's . Landmarks in China | China Family Attractions | Geo China for Kids It laid a foundation for the eventual establishment of relations between Beijing and Washington. Nixon's visit played a role in leading to the September 1972 Japan-China Joint Communiqu. The History and Public Policy Programmakes public the primary source record of 20th and 21st century international history from repositories around the world, facilitates scholarship based on those records, and uses these materials to provide context for classroom, public, and policy debates on global affairs. The trip helped bring China out of isolation and realign the global balance of power. Kissinger's second trip to China was different from the first exploratory visit which took many US allies and officials at Nixon's White House by surprise with its strict secrecy. The US-China rapprochement, symbolized by Nixons visit, substantially altered the international balance of power and arguably concluded the Cold War in East Asia. The PRC leadership worried that their well-armed Soviet neighbors had designs on expanding their territory into Asia. How have US-China talks failed and succeeded in recent years? South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. "[19][20], As an observer of the MaoNixon meeting, Lord noted Mao's peasant-like sensibilities and self-deprecating humor. But as the tumultuous 1960s came to a close, the Nixon administration was facing several major challenges: a disastrous war in Vietnam, social strife at home, and stalled nuclear arms negotiations with the Soviets. The trip is consistently ranked by historians, scholars, and journalists as one of the most importantif not the most importantvisits by a U.S. president anywhere in the world. Nixon was the first American president to ever visit mainland China while in office, a now almost routine act undertaken by US heads of state. How could Mao pull off such a stunt after two decades of intense anti-US propaganda? Nixon himself had served as vice president during the Eisenhower administration, which had been steadfast in its support of the ROC, when the Chinese Communists attempted to retake the islands of Kinmen and Matsu. The two sides hadnt spoken for decades, and the United States was at war with the Communist North Vietnamese in Chinas backyard. Russia's war against Ukraine has largely overshadowed the 50th anniversary of Nixon's landmark trip to China in 1972, which established the basis for a normalization of relations between the two powers. 1. For the 50th anniversary of the "week that changed the world"--- the summit between the United States and China from February 21-28, 1972 during which US President Richard Nixon met with Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong---this video features excerpts from China experts on the significance of what is considered one of the major diplomatic turning points in modern history. [citation needed]. It adds textures and nuance to our understanding of China's mindset and strategies in diplomatic negotiations, and should aid American diplomats dealing with China in the 21st Century. It was described as "a masterpiece of undercover work" by the late Harvard professor Roderick MacFarquhar. But whether the visit truly changed the course of world history, as I said earlier, its far too early to tell. Repercussions of the Nixon visit continue to this day; near-immediate results included a significant shift in the Cold War balance, driving an ideological wedge between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, resulting in significant Soviet concessions and its eventual fall. [8] Two decades before becoming president Herbert Hoover lived in China as a mining manager from 1899 to 1901,[9] being also somewhat proficient in Mandarin. Lets not forget his central role in the Red Scare rhetoric that essentially prevented other political figures from advocating for engagement with the PRC in a more tempered manner. Read more, The Cold War International History Project supports the full and prompt release of historical materials by governments on all sides of the Cold War. With the premiere of HBO's "White House Plumbers," the Watergate scandal is having yet another moment, 51 years after the original break-in that ultimately led to Richard Nixon's resignation. RIGGER: I would argue that Beijing, to this day, looks back on those events as a kind of betrayal and says, you know, there's an original sin here. Nixon's China Game | American Experience | PBS [1] The seven-day official visit to three Chinese cities was the first time a U.S. president had visited the PRC; Nixon's arrival in Beijing ended 25 years of no communication or diplomatic ties between the two countries and was the key step in normalizing relations between the U.S. and the PRC. So what they want, President Nixon writes, build up their world credentials. It is over 6,300 kilometers long, which makes it the third-longest river in the world. A memorable protest from Enver Hoxha of Albania, for example, asked Mao Zedong to reconsider his plan to host the US President. The communiqu also contained an acknowledgment that the U.S. does not challenge the view that there is only one China and that Taiwan is a part of China and therefore helped shape the policy of U.S. strategic ambiguity toward Taiwan that remains today. I cant help but see his behavior on this front as redolent of the duplicity we saw in his approach to the Vietnam War and race relations at home, and that eventually did him in. On the morning of February 21, 1972, US President Richard Nixon landed in the Peoples Republic of China. SHELLEY RIGGER: The Taiwanese absolutely saw this process as a betrayal. Kissinger and his assistant Winston Lord were also present. The visit inspired John Adams' 1987 opera Nixon in China. Former President Richard Nixon's weeklong 1972 China visit provides one blueprint. Federico Pachetti - Nixon in China: The Week that ChangedWhat?. Copyright (c) 2022. The Great Hall of the People and 100 Yuan Note. Kissinger, who had just emerged from the glittering success of the first visit, also took Nixon's Air Force One, the "Spirit of '76". A longtime contributor to HowStuffWorks, Dave has also been published in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and Newsweek. RUWITCH: By the end of the week, the two sides had hammered out the Shanghai Communique, a document that has been a cornerstone of U.S.-China relations ever since. So, the fact that Nixon, as president, would be willing to embark in outreach to Beijing came as a surprise. Later that decade, I made my first of what became scores of trips to China that have informed my research and teaching greatly. Watergate scandal | Summary, History, Timeline, Deep Throat, & Facts Mao, even then, was quite frail. What Lessons Can We Learn from The Week that Changed the World?. Former Embassy of Taiwan, Washington, D.C. Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Houston, Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States, Former Ambassador of the United States to China, American Institute in Taiwan Kaohsiung Branch Office, Former Embassy of the United States in Taipei, July 2002 state visit to the United States, Taiwan Relations Act Affirmation and Naval Vessel Transfer Act of 2014, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1972_visit_by_Richard_Nixon_to_China&oldid=1144251046, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using multiple image with auto scaled images, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 12 March 2023, at 17:52. Nixons intention with his visit was to project goodwill and cooperation, and make it known to the world that the U.S. recognized a third superpower on the world stage, one that could be an important economic ally and a strategic foil in negotiations with the Soviets. RUWITCH: Where they wanted to cooperate most was in counterbalancing the Soviet Union, which both saw as a threat.

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