Richard Nixon
China

Nixon laid the groundwork for his overture to China before he became president, writing in Foreign Affairs a year before his election: "There is no place on this small planet for a billion of its potentially most able people to live in angry isolation." Among the reasons that Nixon sought to improve relations with China was in the hope of weakening the Soviet Union and decreasing China's support to the North in the Vietnam War. Nixon ultimately used the idea of gaining leverage against the Soviet Union through relations with China to obtain the support of key conservative figures including Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan.

Assisting him in pursuing relations with China was Henry Kissinger, Nixon's national security advisor and future secretary of state. They collaborated closely, bypassing Cabinet officials. With relations between the Soviet Union and China at a nadir— border clashes between the two took place during Nixon's first year in office—Nixon sent private word to the Chinese that he desired closer relations. A breakthrough came in early 1971, when Chinese Communist Party (CCP) chairman Mao Zedong invited a team of American table tennis players to visit China and play against top Chinese players. Nixon followed up by sending Kissinger to China for clandestine meetings with Chinese officials. On July 15, 1971, with announcements from Washington and Beijing, it was learned that the President would visit China the following February. The secrecy had allowed both sets of leaders time to prepare the political climate in their countries for the visit.

In February 1972, Nixon and his wife traveled to China after Kissinger briefed Nixon for over 40 hours in preparation. Upon touching down, the President and First Lady emerged from Air Force One and were greeted by Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. Nixon made a point of shaking Zhou's hand, something which then-secretary of state John Foster Dulles had refused to do in 1954 when the two met in Geneva. More than a hundred television journalists accompanied the president. On Nixon's orders, television was strongly favored over printed publications, as Nixon felt that the medium would capture the visit much better than print. It also gave him the opportunity to snub the print journalists he despised.

Nixon and Kissinger immediately met for an hour with CCP Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou at Mao's official private residence, where they discussed a range of issues. Mao later told his doctor that he had been impressed by Nixon's forthrightness, unlike the leftists and the Soviets. He said he was suspicious of Kissinger, though the National Security Advisor referred to their meeting as his "encounter with history". A formal banquet welcoming the presidential party was given that evening in the Great Hall of the People. The following day, Nixon met with Zhou; the joint communique following this meeting recognized Taiwan as a part of China and looked forward to a peaceful solution to the problem of reunification. When not in meetings, Nixon toured architectural wonders, including the Forbidden City, the Ming tombs, and the Great Wall. Americans took their first glance into everyday Chinese life through the cameras that accompanied Pat Nixon, who toured the city of Beijing and visited communes, schools, factories, and hospitals.

The visit ushered in a new era of US–China relations. Fearing the possibility of a US–China alliance, the Soviet Union yielded to pressure for détente with the United States. This was one component of triangular diplomacy.
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