![]() 27, the two released the Shanghai Communiqué, in which the two sides pledged to pursue a normalization of relations. Nixon spent the remainder of his trip dealing primarily with Chou. Nixon and Kissinger’s Involvement in Chile.“Never, perhaps, have two men who so dramatically epitomize the conflicting forces of modern history ever sat as equals at one negotiating table,” wrote Time. He met with Mao, the only time during the trip the two would meet. 21, 1972, to begin his eight-day diplomatic trip. In what proved to be a monumental public relations success, President Nixon arrived in Beijing on Feb. Over the course of the year, he and Chinese Premier Chou En-lai drafted what would become the Shanghai Communiqué. Nixon secretly sent Kissinger to China in July to lay the groundwork for a presidential visit. The invitation signaled to Nixon that China was open to establishing relations. The pingpong players, who spent a week playing against Chinese players and touring Chinese attractions, were the first Americans ever to be invited to the PRC. The new era of American and Chinese diplomacy dawned on April 6, 1971, when China issued a surprise invitation to nine American pingpong players to play in China later that month. Mao’s radical Great Leap Forward isolated the Soviets, and border clashes erupted between the two nations in 1969, encouraging closer U.S.-Sino relations.Ĭhina sought an ally to help protect it against the Soviet Union, while President Nixon and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger “realized they could play Moscow against Beijing to improve relations with both nations,” explains PBS. implemented a trade embargo on China while continuing to aid the Republic of China, Chiang’s Taiwan-based government-in-exile.Ĭommunist China was a natural ally of the Soviet Union, but Sino-Soviet relations began to deteriorate in the 1960s over economic, security, and ideological differences. Richard Nixon-chose not to immediately open diplomatic relations with the PRC.Īny chance of opening relations was dashed by the Korean War, when the Chinese fought alongside the North Koreans against U.S. The Truman administration-due in large part to the lobbying of the anti-communist “China Lobby,” which included Sen. In 1949, Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communists declared the formation of the People’s Republic of China, having secured control of mainland China after a decades-long civil war against the Western-supported Nationalists of Chiang Kai-shek. Meeting Sets Stage for Stronger U.S.-China Relations ![]() 17, 1972, President Richard Nixon embarked on a diplomatic mission to normalize relations with the People’s Republic of China. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |