The Chinese, it turned out, had their own strategic reasons to re-open dialogue with the United States. How have US-China talks failed and succeeded in recent years? Nixon and Kissinger cooked up this idea of pitting the Soviet Union and China against each other with the United States as a third corner of the triangle to create a stable balance of power, says Evan Thomas, journalist and author of Being Nixon: A Man Divided. 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. The communique issued on August 17, 1982 stated that the US took no position on Taiwan's sovereignty and that this was an issue the two sides of the Strait should resolve. Instead, Zhou came up with a Chinese draft, with "the brilliant 'our side-your side' formula" as American diplomat Richard Holbrooke called it, in which each side stated its own position on areas of disagreement. NPR's China affairs correspondent John Ruwitch explains. The surprise announcement was the result of months of top-secret diplomacy between the Nixon White House and Beijing. "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. President Richard Nixon and his wife traveled in a landmark visit to the People's Republic of China in February 1972. How could Mao pull off such a stunt after two decades of intense anti-US propaganda? Federico Pachetti - Nixon in China: The Week that ChangedWhat?. 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. JAMES SHEN: Well, Mr. President, I'm going back to Taiwan. RUWITCH: Washington didn't agree to switch diplomatic relations right away, though. 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. Rigger also said that of the three China-US communiques, the Shanghai Communique was the most important. 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. What are its consequences? Mine was one of those. The Digital Archive also features materials on the diverse responses to Nixons visit from members of both the capitalist, communist, and non-aligned camps. In fact, Nixon was scheduled to travel to meet Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev shortly after completing his visit to China. They also shook hands with each other, the photograph of which is probably the most famous image to come out of the trip. The Digital Archive also contains the record of a talk between Zhou Enlai and the U.S. table tennis team, an important stepping stone to the Nixon visit. Shanghai at the Huangpu river with Shanghai Tower Did you know that China has the most skyscrapers in any country in the world? 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. MacMillan provides vivid thumbnail biographies of the four major players in the drama of that weeklong visit, Nixon, Mao, Henry Kissinger and Chou En-lai, each a fascinating character in his own right. Mao spoke simply and inelegantly, but clearly communicated approval of the visit and its diplomatic utility. Some commentators are now reflecting on the decisions made by Nixon in 1972 and whether the decision to embrace China was a sound strategic . But Tao Wenzhao, a US expert from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, disagreed and insisted those lingering issues over Taiwan were resolved. And in the Shanghai Communique, the U.S. crucially acknowledged the Chinese position that Taiwan is a part of China. LORD: We pulled it off, I think, very skillfully because the two sides basically agreed to postpone intractable problems, like Taiwan, so we could get on where we could cooperate. Tiffany & Co. will open its Fifth Avenue flagship store, what it now calls the Landmark, on April 28, after a three-year renovation. The Shanghai Tower is the tallest structure in China. inflation. But he soon became preoccupied with seeking detente with the largely isolated communist regime and was more than eager to win personal credit for it. This was the week that changed the world. "It's instructive that the US and China were able to reach a modus vivendi in spite of political and ideological differences in 1972 and afterwards. But its fate is as unresolved as ever. The two sides hadnt spoken for decades, and the United States was at war with the Communist North Vietnamese in Chinas backyard. I have benefited from having superb students and excellent colleagues from China, as well as Taiwan. It's been 50 years since President Nixon went to China, a trip that changed the world's balance of power. Zhou was quoted by Lord as saying. Nixon and Mao: the handshake that turned Taiwan towards a new future Every country has its landmark tourist attractions, and China is no exception. RUWITCH: And, she says, it also created mistrust between Beijing and Washington. 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. Sky Tower, Auckland, North Island. Despite this, in 1972 Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit mainland China while in office. What has the Nixon visit meant to you? Astill rather tedious negotiating and acculturation process was necessary before the formal exchange of diplomatic relations could be achieved in 1979, and before business, military, cultural, and people-to-people ties could flourish over the next few decades. Tiffany Landmark Flagship in NYC Will Cater to Ultra-Elite Shoppers But there was another American at the meeting that day in Mao's cluttered study. The U.N. expulsion, the Nixon visit, and the severing of diplomatic ties by many countries afterwards catapulted Taiwan into a diplomatic isolation that is still ongoing. The media coverage of the trip was overwhelmingly positive. A masterful account of one of the most dramatic moments in American diplomatic history, President Richard Nixon's visit to China in 1972. Despite their shared Communist ideology, there was plenty of mistrust between the PRC and the Soviet Union. If we scratch away the theatrics, The Week that Changed the World looks less momentous than many have portrayed it. Premier Zhou chaperoned Nixon for most of the trip, having been delegated responsibility for the fine grain details of US-China relations by Chairman Mao. By the time of Nixons visit, Mao was ailing, and his succession plans, as set forth by the 1969 Party Congress, had fallen apart. On July 15, 1971, the President announced on live television that he would visit the PRC the following year.[2]. These China landmarks are recognized as some of the country's top attractions and can be seen on the six Chinese banknotes from 1 to 100. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Nixons visit was not only symbolic; it was also substantive. You should at least consider visiting all of these seven tourist landmarks: the Great Wall on Mao Loyalty Ridge, the Forbidden City, the Terracotta Army, the best giant panda base, 20-Yuan Hill on the Li River, Mount Everest, and Dunhuang Mogao Caves.. 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. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), HUM Images/Universal Images Group/Getty Images, How Ping-Pong Diplomacy Thawed the Cold War, https://www.history.com/news/nixon-china-visit-cold-war, How Nixons 1972 Visit to China Changed the Balance of Cold War Power. Almost as soon as the American president arrived in the Chinese capital, CCP Chairman Mao Zedong summoned him for a quick meeting. SHELLEY RIGGER: The Taiwanese absolutely saw this process as a betrayal. [17][15] Although Nixon was in China for a week, this would be his only meeting with Mao. In the aftermath of the Chinese civil war, the communists had captured mainland China and declared the founding of the Peoples Republic in 1949. [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. Yet, reflections on the history of Chinese-American relations in the 20th-centuryand the past four decades in particularmay offer some time-tested wisdom, thus letting us occupy a more informed and discerning position to deal with vital challenges facing both the United States and China. dialogue: President Nixon Visits China: The Week That Changed the World. Nixon's trip to China, therefore, was a move calculated to drive an. The visit helped to break several decades of US-PRC hostility and launched a new cooperative course in the relationship that generally persisted until the end of the Cold War, if not longer. The visit was a visual spectacle for the US President, his entourage, and much of the rest of the world, which closely watched the American leader's travels inside the world's largest communist country. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Whats your assessment of that? In one Chinese record from December 1970, Mao Zedong confided to Edgar Snow that he liked Nixon's "reactionary" approach to foreign policy and desired to speak with him directly. Wu: Taiwan saw the Nixon and Carter administrations actions as betrayals. Nixon's unprecedented presidential trip to China in 1972 steadied a rocky diplomatic relationship. "I don't think anyone set aside ideological rivalry; instead, they both were practising Mao's Theory of Contradictions," she said. When US President Richard Nixon walked down the red-carpeted stairs from Air Force One to shake hands with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai on a cold day in Beijing on February 21, 1972, it was hailed. LORD: There were several very comfortable chairs we sat in, with tea served in between. Nixons announcement of his upcoming trip to China was a shock to most Americans, but the bold political gesture quickly won popular support. Pete Millwood - No, Not Only Nixon Could Go to China. LOPEZ: What we both want, reduced danger of confrontation and conflict, a more stable Asia and a restraint of USSR. Copyright 2022 NPR. When Nixon Visited ChinaAnd Changed the Balance of Cold - History The pair and their aides worked hard and spent more than 11 hours negotiating through seven drafts of the communique. Wu: No doubt the reversal of U.S. foreign policy toward the PRC in the 1970s will be seen as an important historical inflection point. But talk of Taiwan would have to wait. Taipei eventually left the U.N. And Beijing was voted in in the fall of 1971. When I accompanied then-Dean Martha Minow to Taiwan in 2013, we had a very stimulating conversation with then-President Ma Ying-jeou S.J.D. The U.K., West Germany, Japan, and Australia quickly switched their diplomatic recognition in the months following the Nixon visit, even though the U.S. would not formally do so until 1979. What is not well understood about it? Kazushi Minami - Why did Mao Shake Hands with Nixon? He would give a one or two-sentence answer and say, that's something for Premier Zhou Enlai to handle. That lack of attention has been very costly for the relationship, inflating our sense of agency and fostering undue expectations among policymakers here and in the American public more generally about our capacity to shape events in China to our liking. It laid a foundation for the eventual establishment of relations between Beijing and Washington. While Zhou Enlai described the Taiwan issue as "the crucial question", Nixon also viewed it as a touchstone for both sides. Landmarks can include historical, cultural, natural, and human-made constructions. The Nixon Dinners That Taught Americans to Stop Worrying and Love The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. Unknown to Nixon and the rest of the American diplomats at the time, Mao was in poor health and he had been hospitalized for several weeks up to only nine days before Nixon's arrival. From February 21 to 28, 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon traveled to Beijing, Hangzhou, and Shanghai. [26], Nixon's visit to China was well-planned. [citation needed], Max Frankel of The New York Times received the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for his coverage of the event.[25]. Ambassador to China) Winston Lord noted that, by flexibly dealing with both the Soviet Union and China, the United States sought to pressure both countries to reduce their support for North Vietnam in their new prioritization of relations with the United States. 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. "It underscored the vision and the extraordinary ability of our leaders back then to take a long view and make sound strategic decisions that may affect future generations.". Kissinger, who had just emerged from the glittering success of the first visit, also took Nixon's Air Force One, the "Spirit of '76". Location: Luoyang, Henan. 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. RUWITCH: Lord says the Americans were a little disappointed at first. US President Richard Nixon and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai toast, February 25, 1972, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum Itinerary of President Richard Nixon's historic trip to. 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". Top 10 Landmarks in China, China's Landmarks - China Educational Tours [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 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. "It was unprecedented, and probably the most meaningful part in the communique. The largest Buddha is over 55-feet tall, while the smallest is less than an inch tall. Cambridge, MA 02138, 2022 The President and Fellows of Harvard College, International Legal Studies & Opportunities, Syllabi, Exam and Course Evaluation Archive, Sign Up for the Harvard Law Today Newsletter, Consumer Information (ABA Required Disclosures). On February 22, 1972, the Peoples Daily printed a picture of Chairman Mao shaking hands with Richard Nixon. Charles Kraus is the Deputy Director of the History and Public Policy Program at the Wilson Center. Read more, One Woodrow Wilson Plaza1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NWWashington, DC 20004-3027, The Future of Central Asias Development: Between Russia and China, Cold War Liberation: The Soviet Union and the Collapse of the Portuguese Empire in Africa, 1961-1975. To avoid embarrassing Secretary of State William P. Rogers, Nixon requested to the Chinese for Lord to be cropped out of all the official photographs of the meeting. 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. What Lessons Can We Learn from The Week that Changed the World?. HLT: How would you characterize U.S.-PRC relations these days? Nixon's 1972 Visit to China at 50 | Wilson Center 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.