Nixon then turned around and did the opposite.ĭuring their only face-to-face meeting in China, Nixon and Mao avoided controversial topics, choosing instead to talk around the major issues that existed between the two nations. Writing in Foreign Affairs in 1967, Nixon warned that “rushing to grant recognition to Peking, to admit it to the United Nations and to ply it with offers of trade” would only “serve to confirm its rulers in their present course.” Nixon remarked that, “a policy of firm restraint, of no reward,” could “persuade Peking that its interests could be served only by accepting the basic rules of international civility.”
Nixon needed a win, but charming Mao was risky, as other polling revealed that the most common terms used by Americans to describe the Chinese people were “ignorant,” “sly,” and “treacherous.”īefore Nixon’s fateful voyage, foreign policy realists had little cause for concern. Less than half approved of his job performance. Nixon’s trip occurred months before a consequential election and prior to his meeting with Mao only one-third of Americans approved of Nixon’s dealings with China.
#NIXON VISITS CHINA HOW TO#
Nixon’s decision about whether and how to engage with China closely mirrors Biden’s current calculus. Put differently, Washington needs to finally shoot straight with Beijing. To get things right, Biden needs to learn from Nixon’s mistakes and behave more, not less, like China. Unfortunately, President Biden’s China policy largely remains a mystery to the American people and to Beijing. Even when the Chinese have been silent on certain matters, their message and often their intentions were clear, at least to those willing to listen. One is that the Chinese have almost always been upfront and direct about the issues they most care about, Taiwan among them. Nevertheless, there are important lessons to be gleaned from Nixon’s trip to what was once known as Peking. That might explain why this momentous anniversary is unlikely to garner much attention.
No doubt, Nixon’s China legacy remains mixed, just as many other China experts have misjudged Beijing’s intentions. Some observers have since suggested that Nixon got conned by Mao Zedong. However, hindsight suggests that Nixon’s optimism about China was foolhardy, if not naïve. His diplomatic gamble, one preceded by decades of little-to-no contact, ultimately set the stage for a resumption of diplomatic relations between the U.S. president to visit the mainland while in office. Nixon became the first, but certainly not the last, U.S. But this week, little champagne will be spilled to mark an event that changed the world – former President Richard Nixon’s historic trip to China in 1972. A fifty-year anniversary is usually reason enough to throw a party.
0 kommentar(er)
