Nixon Move Toward China
The Nixon Move Toward China On February 21, 1972, President Richard Nixon arrived in Beijing, China, for historic meetings with Chairman Mao, the leader of the Peoples Republic of China. This historic trip began the development of a new American policy toward China. ... Thirty years to the day after Nixon’s trip to China, U. ... While writing about President Bush’s trip to Beijing, Simon Fraser of BBC News Online noted that Nixon’s visit was a diplomatic triumph in thawing relations between China and the United States and stated that the trip “changed the world” . Before President Nixon’s trip, relations between China and the United states were those of enemies. ... For example, in the 1960’s Mao’s brutal Cultural Revolution crushed all opposition within China. ... Likewise China despised the United States. China called President Nixon, “a gangster,” who wielded “a blood-dripping butchers’ knife.” Richard Nixon had built a political reputation as being a staunch anti-Communist. ... At the time that Nixon became President in 1969, there seemed little chance for any relationship between the United States and China. However, after Nixon became President in 1969, he saw certain world realities that indicated it was in America’s interest to develop some diplomatic relations with China. With the wise counsel of his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, Nixon developed a plan. ... But now Nixon saw evidence of a growing split between the Russians and the Chinese, which Nixon might use as leverage with both nations. ... In Vietnam, China was supporting the enemy of the United States. Nixon saw the Chinese involvement as adversely affecting the United States’ position in Asia. Improving relations with China might help keep the United States from being involved in further conflicts in Asia. Nixon was also concerned that China could become an increasingly dangerous nation, threatening world peace. In March 1969, a border dispute between China and the Soviet Union came close to starting a war. That conflict gave Nixon an opportunity to begin his initiative toward China.