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. Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? 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. 1. The Americans will say that [the] Chinese attitude of finger-pointing is precisely the lesson - that engagement in the hope to change China is a mistake," she said. Richard Nixon Library,WHPO-8521-17a, National Archives Identifier:40509550. All rights reserved. Had Nixon not helped foster that atmosphere, arguably there would have been no need for a Nixon goes to China moment or it would have been much less dramatic. "Without it, there would not have been a normalisation communique in 1979 (at least, not at that time). "This is useless: this is a typical diplomatic document that papers over differences. Nixon dubbed his visit "the week that changed the world", a descriptor that continues to echo in the political lexicon. Sky Tower, Auckland, North Island. But over time, Taiwan has itself become more important, as well as democratic, and China's strategic and territorial goals have become more forcefully asserted and politically articulated," Magnus said. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. The visit inspired John Adams' 1987 opera Nixon in China. 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. Photographs of Nixon standing on top the Great Wall, viewing The Red Detachment of Women,or toasting Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai circulated widely around the globe. When former American national security adviser Henry Kissinger returned to Beijing three months after his secret groundbreaking trip in July 1971, the real test had just begun for the Cold War rivals seeking rapprochement through dialogue. 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. 1. Mao spoke simply and inelegantly, but clearly communicated approval of the visit and its diplomatic utility. [26], Nixon's visit to China was well-planned. [25], John T. Downey and Richard Fecteau, CIA operatives who were held captive in China from November 1952, were released after Nixon's visit to China. National Security Council staffer (and later U.S. Most importantly, but for the opening, I would not, while in the mid-1980s creating the first academic program in U.S. law in the PRC, have met my wonderful wife. 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Washington "acknowledged" the PRC's claim to the island - that "Taiwan is part of China" - and stated it "does not challenge" that claim. But talk of Taiwan would have to wait. Another element that is not well understood is how divided U.S. allies were in their China policy in the early 1970s. So, the fact that Nixon, as president, would be willing to embark in outreach to Beijing came as a surprise. It has thrived economically and politically. "I don't think anyone set aside ideological rivalry; instead, they both were practising Mao's Theory of Contradictions," she said. Domestic events in China that followed the visit, such as Deng Xiaoping prevailing in the leadership struggle, will likely prove even more important. The normalization of ties culminated in 1979, when the U.S. established full diplomatic relations with the PRC. RUWITCH: The Soviet Union may be gone and the war in Vietnam long over. 10. According to Shelley Rigger, a Taiwan expert and a political scientist at Davidson College in North Carolina, the need to balance the power of the rising Soviet Union brought Beijing and Washington together. At the time, Lord says, Beijing appeared to be happy with the arrangement. Both men were aware of the historic significance of what they were doing, says Thomas, and they were both showmen in their own way.. inflation. And it kept its defense treaty with Taiwan intact. China is modernizing rapidly, a fact which makes its ancient treasures all the more precious. This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. 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. dialogue: President Nixon Visits China: The Week That Changed the World. As Kissinger himself explained during his second China trip: "The trouble is that we disagree, not that we don't understand each other. In fact, they werent even sure my uncles had survived the Cultural Revolution. Deputy Director, History and Public Policy Program, 2023 The Wilson Center. 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. Later that decade, I made my first of what became scores of trips to China that have informed my research and teaching greatly. Known as the "city of sails" thanks to its fabulous harbor and yachting community, Auckland is one of New Zealand's most beautiful cities, as well as the largest, with an incredible skyline and some fabulous beaches. Nixon's unprecedented presidential trip to China in 1972 steadied a rocky diplomatic relationship. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. RUWITCH: And, she says, it also created mistrust between Beijing and Washington. 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. While on a diplomatic trip to Pakistan, Kissinger feigned a stomach illness that would keep him locked away in his hotel room for several days. Accuracy and availability may vary. Key materials from February 1972 include the verbatim records and agreements of US-China bilateral exchanges, including: Memorandum of Conversation between Chairman Mao Zedong and President Richard Nixon, February 21, 1972, Memorandum of Conversation between Richard Nixon and Zhou Enlai, February 22, 1972, Joint Communiqu of the United States of America and the People's Republic of China (Shanghai Communiqu), February 27, 1972, Although declassified Chinese language records from the February 1972 are generally lacking (the Chinese Foreign Ministry Archives never released any materials dated later than 1966), the Digital Archive does feature a number of sources from before and after the visit. Former President Richard Nixon's weeklong 1972 China visit provides one blueprint. There certainly is antipathy there, but in trying to understand its policy decisions, we shouldnt be ignoring either domestic considerations there or Chinas need to address certain challenges that all nations face. [28] The Beijing-Washington hotline was later created in 2007. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. The enemy of my enemy is my friend was a very Nixonian idea., Since direct diplomatic ties between China and the U.S. were severed, Nixon had to work through private back channels in Pakistan and Romania to make overtures to the Chinese, who proved receptive. Today . A couple of weeks after Nixon returned home, the Taiwanese ambassador to the U.S. visited the White House. And they're telling. [citation needed] Eisenhower made a state visit to Taiwan in 1960, during the period when the United States recognized the Republic of China government in Taipei as the sole government of China. The U.S. had diplomatic relations with the ruling Communist Party's arch enemy, the nationalists based in Taiwan. What is the meaning of Chinas rise? 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. Code-named "[Operation Marco] Polo II" and publicly announced weeks before Kissinger left for China, it was effectively a full-scale dress rehearsal for the historic presidential visit. But Nixon saw the China opening as essential to his re-election bid the following year and he decided Kissinger should go ahead with the trip as "we've got to make the big plays now". As Mark suggests, there are and will be areas of profound disagreement, given important differences in values. It's no wonder leaders in both Beijing and Taipei have a hard time trusting the US," she said. 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.
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