People around the world stood glued to their television sets, watching in bewilderment as Nixon got off Air Force One, accompanied by his wife Pat, who was wearing a long red coat, carefully chosen to match with "Red China." President and Mrs. The presidential visit took place on 21-28 February 1972. With time, however, they began to appreciate its audacity, vision, and courage. Travelling to Beijing to meet Chang's archenemy, Mao Zedong sounded rather obscene to many Americans, hovering on the edge of ideological heresy. In the 1940s, he had harshly condemned his predecessor Harry Truman for "losing" China to the communists, in reference to the American failure to prevent the communist revolution in China.ĭiplomatic relations were suspended in 1949 and consecutive US administrations recognised no other state than the Taiwan-based Republic of China, led by their aging ally, Chang Kai-shek. Nixon had built his entire career on standing up to international communism, whether in the USSR, East Europe, or North Vietnam and China. Dwight Eisenhower had made a state visit - not to Beijing - but to Taiwan, in 1960. Before coming to office, President Herbert Hoover had lived in China as a mining manager, but that was in 1900. Grant did it after leaving the White House, but that was back in 1879. No other president had visited China while in office. China too had to prepare public opinion, inviting an American ping-pong team to a series of games in 1971, which was dubbed “ping-pong diplomacy.” The Vietnam War was still ranging, where thousands of young Americans had died for the “great fight” against international communism. Nixon delivered a televised address on 15 July 1971, telling the American people that he would soon be visiting China. Kissinger’s secret diplomacy went through Pakistan, the only country in the world that enjoyed good relations with the United States, China, and Soviet Union.īefore it happened, however, the stage had to be set and the American public needed to be prepared. It was the first such visit for an American president since the country fell under communist rule in 1949. He had just managed to successfully negotiate what would soon become a game-changer in international politics: President Richard Nixon groundbreaking visit to China, which came at the height of the Cold War. This was the one-word cable that US National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger sent to the Nixon White House after secretly visiting China in July 1971.
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