The United States, which was then a far more inward-oriented society than it is today, stayed out of this struggle for more than a decade, but Washington did offer some economic assistance to the ROC and its leader, Chiang Kai-shek (Jiăng Jièshí), in their fight against Japan. The civil war pitted the Republic of China’s (ROC) nationalist government against an insurgency led by the Communist Party of China (CPC). Ideological differences and Cold War geopolitics fostered a hostile Sino-American relationship between the end of the Chinese Civil War (1927–1949) and the early 1970s. In order to understand the significance of the 1972 summit, we must turn the clock back a bit further. The Capricious Sino-American Relationship But it continues to fascinate be- cause it is a tale of intriguing personalities-a commingling of cultures and a clash of egos between its four chief participants: Nixon, Mao, Zhou, and Henry Kissinger. In a way, this is very much a story of Cold War diplomacy and the national interests of the Americans, the Chinese, and the Russians. The summit thus stands as a fitting point of embarkation when teaching the modern Sino-American relationship and related subjects, like superpower relations, the American presidency, the Việt Nam War, Chinese internal politics, and China’s “opening up” to the world. Moreover, the major source of Sino-American disagreement in 1972-Taiwan-remains a sticking point to this very day. Both Nixon and Mao angered some of their closest allies by hobnobbing with the “enemy,” and now-declassified summit records show that Nixon was willing to sacrifice much for short-term political gain. Finally, the summit is worthy of our attention because it has always been controversial. They also paved the way for their successors, Deng Xiaoping and President Jimmy Carter, to overcome the two nations’ remaining differences and restore full relations in 1979 (a process known as “normalization”). Although Nixon and Mao did not establish full diplomatic relations, they did oversee a dramatic revival of trade, travel, and exchanges in education, science, sports, and culture. It was a watershed moment that ended years of Sino- American animosity and opened two of the world’s largest, most influential nations to a variety of new opportunities. Simply put, the summit was one of the major diplomatic turning points in modern history. But how significant was the 1972 Nixon-Mao summit, and why should a twenty-first-century student learn about it? Perhaps you have seen the images before: the president and First Lady Pat Nixon fronting a large entourage on the Great Wall a frail, though still sharp, Mao wearing an impish grin while shaking hands with a clearly delighted Nixon and Premier Zhou Enlai and Nixon toasting one another with kind words and shots of maotai in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People. In February 1972, President Richard Nixon and Chairman Mao Zedong held a summit that laid the foundation for the Sino-American relationship as we know it. In an age of unprecedented Sino-American contact, cooperation, and competition, it is hard to believe that a scant four decades ago, our two peoples barely knew one another. Source: NARA: ARC identifier 194421 / Local identifier NLRN-WHPO-C8549-25A item from Collection RN-WHPO: White House Photo Office Collection (Nixon administration), Januto August 9, 1974. Nixon visit the great Wall of China, February 24, 1972. Re-envisioning Asia: Contestations and Struggles in the Visual Artsĭownload PDF President and Mrs.Distinguished Service to the Association for Asian Studies Award.Distinguished Contributions to Asian Studies Award.Striving for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Asian Studies: Humanities Grants for Asian Studies Scholars.Gosling-Lim Postdoctoral Fellowship in Southeast Asian Studies.Cultivating the Humanities & Social Sciences Initiative Grants.Key Issues in Asian Studies Book Series.Connect, Collaborate, Contribute: AAS Membership Recruitment Drive.AAS Takes Action to Build Diversity & Equity in Asian Studies.AAS Community Forum Log In and Participate.
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