Many scholars have also emphasized that the Nixon visit, despites its immense international ramifications, did not change US-China relations overnight. 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. While Nixon publicly portrayed himself as a populist hardliner, he was a close reader of history and a shrewd strategist. 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. JOHN RUWITCH, BYLINE: Shortly after landing in Beijing, as the first U.S. president to set foot in China for more than two decades, Nixon was summoned. The visit inspired John Adams' 1987 opera Nixon in China. A memorable protest from Enver Hoxha of Albania, for example, asked Mao Zedong to reconsider his plan to host the US President. The Shanghai Tower is the tallest structure in China. The 1972 visit by United States President Richard Nixon to the People's Republic of China was an important strategic and diplomatic overture that marked the culmination of the Nixon administration's resumption of harmonious relations between the United States (U.S.) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) after years of diplomatic isolation. Although Mao was ill, the two chatted for an hour while cameras captured the world leaders smiling and joking with one another. What has the Nixon visit meant to you? Copyright 2022 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. We strive for accuracy and fairness. So, the fact that Nixon, as president, would be willing to embark in outreach to Beijing came as a surprise. The fate of Taiwan was not addressed, and the issue still stalks U.S.-China relations. A masterful account of one of the most dramatic moments in American diplomatic history, President Richard Nixon's visit to China in 1972. 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. 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 . RUWITCH: At the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, Calif., there's a room covering the February 1972 China trip. dialogue: President Nixon Visits China: The Week That Changed the World. The Great Hall of the People is the landmark on the back of the 100 Yuan banknote. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. It was brilliant stagecraft.. 3, get U.S. out of Asia. Resolving the Vietnam War was a particularly important factor. WINSTON LORD: It was just filled with books and manuscripts all over the place - in the back of Mao, where he sat and all the tables. Mao spoke simply and inelegantly, but clearly communicated approval of the visit and its diplomatic utility. Being so large, Yangtze is China's most important waterway, providing water to farmland that gives food to one-third of the population. 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. As always, avoid the holidays 1-7 May, and 1-7 October. Both men were aware of the historic significance of what they were doing, says Thomas, and they were both showmen in their own way.. "[18] Nixon, charmed, said "you voted for the lesser of two evils," and Mao replied, "I like rightists, I am comparatively happy when these people on the right come into power. William P. Alford: Thank you, Mark. Over the course of a week, he met with Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong, negotiated with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, and toured historical and cultural institutions including the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Shanghai, and Hangzhou. "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. "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. Today, the relationship between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America is now one of the most important and vital bilateral relationships in the world, and every successive U.S. president, except for Jimmy Carter and Joe Biden (although he has already visited when he was Vice President), has visited the PRC. [29][30] In his discussion with Japanese PM Kakuei Tanaka, Mao Zedong recounted, "I told Nixon, 'I voted for you when you ran for President. 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. Nixon's visit . "This sets it on a collision course with the US, especially as China aims to become the prominent, if not dominant, power. [citation needed]. What is not well understood about it? On February 22, 1972, the Peoples Daily printed a picture of Chairman Mao shaking hands with Richard Nixon. Aside from wining and dining, the two sat downseveral times to exchange views on a host of international problems from the Vietnam War to the Soviet Union to the status of Taiwan. 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. "The Chinese might say that the lesson is [that the] US needs to return to the correct path set by the Shanghai Communique and treat China as a friend again. And while Taiwans democratization is predominantly attributable to domestic factors, I do think a secondary consideration has been to distinguish itself from the PRC internationally. Nixon concluded the visit in the morning of February 28, when he left China on a flight to Anchorage, Alaska. Sky Tower in Auckland, North Island. The biggest coup was Kissingers secret visit to Beijing in July 1971 to meet face-to-face with the Chinese leader Chou Enlai. All Rights Reserved. Wu: Gish Jen, a visiting professor in the English department, just released a new book, Thank You Mr. Nixon. Its a wonderful read. Are China, the rising power and the worlds second largest economy, and the United States, the dominant power in the world, likely to chart a perilous course toward the Thucydidess Trap? RUWITCH: The Soviet Union may be gone and the war in Vietnam long over. The Nixon trip certainly caught Taiwan off guard, as did the normalization of U.S.-PRC relations during the Carter administration. The visit and subsequent normalization of relations with the West provided the ideological cover necessary for the economic reforms of the 1980s that launched China from a pariah state to the economic juggernaut that it is today. WU: On the Taiwan issue, the U.S. is trying to discover the geopolitical and geo-economic value of Taiwan, and play its card against China by putting Taiwan in the broader framework of U.S. Indo-Pacific project. 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. One famous landmark in China that you absolutely need to experience is the Dujiangyan Panda Base (also known as the Chengdu Research Base Of Giant Panda Breeding). Wu: Taiwan saw the Nixon and Carter administrations actions as betrayals. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. A longtime contributor to HowStuffWorks, Dave has also been published in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and Newsweek. [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. This landmark sits on over 7-acres of land and took a total of 400 years to construct. Fifty years after Nixons history-making journey, Harvard Law Today turned to two China experts to understand its significance, both then and now. In the aftermath of the Chinese civil war, the communists had captured mainland China and declared the founding of the Peoples Republic in 1949. After 4 hours in the air, the Nixons arrived in Shanghai. [4] After World War II, Americans saw relations between the United States and the Soviet Union deteriorating, the Soviets consolidating communist allies over much of Eastern Europe, and the potential victory of CCP forces in the Chinese Civil War. [3], Improved relations with the Soviet Union and the PRC are often cited as the most successful diplomatic achievements of Nixon's presidency. RUWITCH: Wu Xinbo of Fudan University says that hasn't happened. "The three communiques cannot be separated, especially when it comes to the Taiwan issue," he said, adding that the normalisation communique in 1979 and the 1982 communique helped clarify and resolve issues from the Shanghai Communique. "[19][20], As an observer of the MaoNixon meeting, Lord noted Mao's peasant-like sensibilities and self-deprecating humor. But whether the visit truly changed the course of world history, as I said earlier, its far too early to tell. And from Beijing's perspective, the U.S. is once again playing the spoiler. 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. When Richard Nixon took office in 1969, it marked the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Peoples Republic of China, and 20 years of frozen diplomatic relations between the United States and Communist China. 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. And what we have said today is that we shall build that bridge. It's no wonder leaders in both Beijing and Taipei have a hard time trusting the US," she said. And tension has been rising as China-U.S. relations stumble. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. RUWITCH: He says the U.S. wanted help ending the war in Vietnam and a reduced threat of confrontation with China. The next morning, February 21, at 7 am the Nixons left Guam for Shanghai. 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. And Beijing is still trying to get its hands on Taiwan. From the moment U.S. President Richard Nixon landed in China on February 21, 1972, he understood that global politics would undergo a transformation that would last well into the 21st century. [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. But talk of Taiwan would have to wait. "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.". History alone does not provide direct answers to these critical questions. Two Digital Archive collections follow the trajectory Sino-American relations before and after the Nixon visit. [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. 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. This undue focus on ourselves shows up again in the 1980s and 1990s, when far too many Americans including policymakers and academics assumed that the PRC wanted nothing more than to emulate us and converge toward an idealized version of our economy, law and society. It was a stunning development in international politics, one that has often been hailed as a week that changed the world.. Washington "acknowledged" the PRC's claim to the island - that "Taiwan is part of China" - and stated it "does not challenge" that claim. Good Americans, Bad Americans, and the US-China Rapprochement. In China, from the beginning of the Sino-Soviet split in 1956, there was a perceived necessity for external allies to counterbalance the power of the Soviet Union. 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. [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. Modern thinkers widely misunderstand the contemporaneous significance of Nixon's 1972 trip to China. The visitwasa visual spectacle for the US President, his entourage, and much of the rest of the world, which closely watched the American leaders travels inside the world's largest communist country. 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. RUWITCH: Washington didn't agree to switch diplomatic relations right away, though. 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. 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). Upon being introduced to Nixon for the first time, Mao, speaking through his translator, said to Nixon: "I believe our old friend Chiang Kai-shek would not approve of this". 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. Nor would there have been a 1982 communique - in part because the Shanghai Communique emerged from a negotiating process in which Beijing was misled into thinking the US would not continue to support Taiwan militarily. China is modernizing rapidly, a fact which makes its ancient treasures all the more precious. They ask whether it really was the week that changed the world, and they question whether Nixon, a Republican and staunch anti-communist, was really the only American leader capable of opening relations with China. It's been 50 years since President Nixon went to China, a trip that changed the world's balance of power. Today . While very much a product of the end of history hubris here that reached its apogee with the collapse of the Soviet Union, that attitude seemed to me at that time to be woefully inattentive to Chinas history and contemporary circumstances and not especially discerning about our own country or the course of world history. 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. SCMP China Series: 50 years since Nixon visited China. RUWITCH: He asks if Nixon had a message for Taiwan's president, Chiang Kai-shek. 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. They arrived the next day in Guam at 5 pm, where they spent the night at Nimitz Hill, the residence of the Commander, Naval Forces, Marianas. 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(As you know, the professorship I am now privileged to hold is named in honor of Jerry and Joan Cohen.). Just two months after Nixon returned from Beijing, he set off again for Moscow, where he and Leonid Brezhnev signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) and made plans for a joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. space flight in 1975. [11][12] Transcripts of White House meetings and once confidential documents show Nixon began working to open a channel of communication with Beijing from his first day in the White House. 81, who had been a classmate, about times when ambiguity may be preferable to clarity. [31], Nixon's visit played a role in opening China to U.S. trade eventually putting downward pressure on U.S. They also highlight that Nixon was perhaps a follower, not a trendsetter, among democratic countries in seeking a new modus vivendi with China. Deputy Director, History and Public Policy Program, 2023 The Wilson Center. However, the U.S. continued to maintain official relations with the government of the Republic of China in Taiwan and did not break off until 1979, when the U.S. established full diplomatic relations with the PRC. 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. 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. This fostered sustained economic growth. They stress the need to see the trip not only through a U.S.-centric lens and caution that, for all the change it spurred, its full import remains to be seen. MARTIN: And it did. But the meeting failed to address one major issue, one that's become an even more pressing issue today. 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?" At the time, Lord says, Beijing appeared to be happy with the arrangement. 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. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Throughout the week the President and his senior advisers engaged in substantive discussions with the PRC leadership, including a meeting with CCP chairman Mao Zedong, while First Lady Pat Nixon toured schools, factories and hospitals in the cities of Beijing, Hangzhou and Shanghai with the large American press corps in tow. We still suffer from the illusion that the U.S. can successfully lead the West in a strong unified response to China, when in fact, our allies historically have been generally more willing to placate Beijing. [14], President Nixon, his wife, and their entourage left the White House on February 17, 1972, spending a night in Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station, Oahu, Hawaii. So too did photos of first ladyPat Nixon inspecting a kitchen at a Beijing hotel. The media coverage of the trip was overwhelmingly positive. In February 1972, after a quarter-century of mutual antagonism between the United States and China, President Richard Nixon traveled to Beijing for an historic encounter with Chairman Mao Tse-tung. "Kissinger's strategic goal - to kick Taiwan into the long grass to allow the US and China to pursue parallel and aligned interests - worked a treat. 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. RUWITCH: Winston Lord was 34 at the time and an aide to Kissinger. On February 21, 1972, Richard Nixon became the first sitting United States president to set foot in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). 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. [32], In 1979, there was a state visit by Deng Xiaoping to the United States from January to February, the first official visit to the U.S. by a senior leader of the P.R.C. It was also the subject of a PBS documentary film, American Experience: Nixon's China Game. But its fate is as unresolved as ever. Wu: The phrase Nixon goes to China is overused to describe all sorts of political events where individuals flip positions and bring their followers along. 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. 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 . 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Diverging economic policies of US, China risk another 'Nixon shock', For only the second time in its history, the US Navy is beginning the slow, tricky process of taking apart a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, A Towering, Terrifying Demon Horse Isnt Even the Weirdest Part, Man who lost wife, son in Texas mass shooting tells story, Roman Polanski and the woman he pleaded guilty to raping pose together 45 years later, Hunter Biden appears in court for paternity case. HLT: What was most significant about that trip? Equally important, historians of China have flipped the script. RUWITCH: And, she says, it also created mistrust between Beijing and Washington. They're building global credentials. "It was unprecedented, and probably the most meaningful part in the communique. On the eve of the big day, Bloomberg spoke to Anthony Ledru . For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Kissinger, who had just emerged from the glittering success of the first visit, also took Nixon's Air Force One, the "Spirit of '76". 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. Under the cover of night, Kissinger boarded a private Pakistani jet to Beijing, where he personally asked the PRC leadership to approve an official state visit from the American president. These days we see the same inattention but with the opposite coloration. The U.S. had literally turned a cold shoulder to Chou in 1954, says Thomas. HLT: You each have personal and professional ties with respect to the PRC and Taiwan. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Throughout the 1950s and much of the 1960s, the U.S. and PRC maintained a frosty relationship. The Wilson Centers Digital Archive contains a considerable number of documents surrounding the Nixon visit to China. Nixon's visit played a role in leading to the September 1972 Japan-China Joint Communiqu. 2, Taiwan. Nixon's porcelain swans statue, a gift to Mao, was presented along the way in the gift-giving ceremony.[21]. Mark Wu is the Henry L. Stimson Professor of Law. Mao, even then, was quite frail. The reason for opening up China was for the U.S. to gain more leverage over relations with the Soviet Union. Niu Jun, a historian and expert on international affairs from Peking University, said that besides the Taiwan aspect, the section on common interests - especially the joint commitment on opposing hegemony - also stood out in the 1,800-word document.