The Complexity of Nixon’s Opening of China
Anthony Bushong
Professor Deborah Larson
TA: Galen Jackson
Political Science 189 HC
21st of March 2014
Introduction In 1972, President Richard Nixon was quoted as stating that his visit to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) “changed the world…to build a bridge across sixteen thousand miles and twenty-two years of hostilities.” By meeting with Chairman Mao Zedong in Beijing, Nixon took groundbreaking first steps to opening relations and formally recognizing the People’s Republic of China. The history of the aforementioned hostilities between the United States and the PRC dates back to the Chinese Communist Party’s takeover of mainland China following its civil war in the
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His contempt for the function and form of the bureaucracy led him to play the situation close to the chest, operating with circumspect and trusting very few with information of the events that led to his visit. Those he did trust, such as Henry Kissinger, proved to be extremely vital in putting into motion the visit. Nixon also was in the midst of inheriting a war that America had grown disillusioned with, as ending the War in Vietnam became increasingly difficult to maneuver. Lastly, the United States was engaged in a power struggle with the Soviet Union in which both parties were fighting to maintain a balance of power. Opening relations provided solutions for these all of these problems. Thus, it becomes clear in a deep examination of the context of Nixon’s pursuit of this meeting that there was much more at stake than goodwill. Nixon’s success in visiting China to open relations directly resulted from his relationship with Henry Kissinger and their discreet modus operandi, the pendulum effect from US disillusionment with Vietnam, and American desire to check Soviet power, fostering a political climate in which a visit to China was advantageous.
Nixon and the Bureaucracy Nixon had a predisposed hatred for the politics of the bureaucracy and therefore operated under a Formal Options System, which allowed for
President Richard M. Nixon’s administration had to face many international and domestic challenges in the United States between 1968 and 1974, some positive and some negative. His achievements in expanding peaceful relationships with both China and the Soviet Union are contrastingly different with his continuation of the Vietnam War. In the end, Nixon’s scandals and abuse of presidential power caught up to him, and his administration did much to corrode America’s faith in the government.
January 1969, Richard Nixon entered the executive office picking up the pieces Lyndon Johnson who had left while the Vietnam War was still in effect. Many Americans had the expectation that Nixon would be the “peaceful president”, visualizing he would put an end to this war in Southeast Asian and bring back home our troops. A policy Nixon redefined was the American role in the world by suggesting to limit the U.S resources and commitments. Therefore, Nixon’s set his efforts to end the war since the withdrawal from Vietnam was not an immediate option. Also, Nixon had his radar on Moscow and China because according to George C. Herring, they felt that they must release the United States from the war in a way that would uphold United States credibility with their friends and foes alike. During Nixon’s term in office, he tries a number of different strategies in his effort to end the war, but to this day, one can see that Nixon only prolonged the war when it could have ended earlier.
Prior to Communism in China, it was known to be a chaotic country on the brink of self-destruction. With the emergence of the party leader Mao Zedong, came a new hope, which filled its inhabitants with the belief that China would return to its former historical greatness. American and Chinese relations before 1971 were in simple terms described as “uneasy”, due to the American, Soviet Cold War. It was not until President Richard Nixon visited China and realized the high value of having China as a ally that relations between the two powers began to become positive. Unknown at the time, it is assumed in the book Chinese Lessons written by John Pomfret, that the relationships he formed with the people he met in China would change his outlook on life and Communist China forever.
Richard Nixon’s six year stint in the White House is and was reviewed as a pivotal and influential time period in various aspects of American infrastructure. Nixon had come into office after the consistent twenty year dominance of presidential politics by a left-winged Democratic coalition. America coming out of conflicts across the globe was universally known as a global police force which was notorious for large-scale pre 21st century military conflict. When Nixon resigned, (The first United States president to do so) a conservative Republican regime was born that would in turn dominate the next twenty years of presidential politics. The post-Nixon Republican Party was known for delivering aid to our allies across the globe, and staying
Then someone found out that the president had tapes of him talking to someone about the plan to break into watergate and he had Documents as well, “secret tapes of White House conversations later revealed that the president had participated in efforts to cover up the criminal activity.”( History.com), but they could not release them because Nixon claimed Executive Privilege which was something the court had never faced before. Executive Privilege is when someone has the right to withhold information from other branches of government. After claiming executive privilege the court had to decide on whether his claim completely protected him from judicial
Almost all parts of the world did not expect such meeting to happen and some did not want this friendly meeting to happen. In fact it came as complete shock to most of Soviet leadership (MacMillan, 290) Since the Soviets was not in good relations with China Soviets were irritated that this impossible meeting took place to improve the Sino-American relationship. The U.S. and China had been enemies for too long and also the war in Vietnam remained to keep them apart. (MacMillan, 289)The KGB, the Soviet secret police, had planned a campaign of disinformation to keep Americans and Chinese apart. (MacMillan, 289)
On February 21, 1972, Nixon became the first American President to ever visit The People’s Republic of China since it was first established. President Nixon and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, met with Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou Enlai to discuss the relations between America and China during the Cold War for eight days. This visit was a major step towards normalizing and opening these relations. The leaders agreed on expanding the interactions between the two countries, and President Nixon established plans for permanent trade amongst the two. Nixon went on to call this meeting “The week that changed the
In 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon made a historic trip to China to meet with Mao, to the beginning a period of improvement and advancement in diplomatic relations with the United States.
In 1971 Henry Kissinger assembled secret negotiations with Mao Zedong government in Beijing. Even though there had been enmity between them as American policy did dot declare the China authority as legitimate and critisize their violent behaviour for more than 20 years. Finally Nixon and Kissinger declared China as a dominant power in Asia and that the United States will profit from negotiation with Mao regimes. Nixon and Kissinger achieved great success for American interest by self consciously jeopardizing on longstanding anti communist
The United States once has very series military, or strategic, relations with China. This brought on the Moscow Conference in October of 1943 (which also included two other nations; United Kingdom & the Soviet Union)
Richard Nixon’s perception of the United States in national and international context differed from his predecessors. As a politician he did not see his country as a global leader, more as a ‘normal’ state (Westad, 2007:195). American involvement in international conflicts (especially war in Vietnam, presence in Western Europe or constant disagreement with the Soviet Union on Middle East), according to him, was a source of disorder in general policy of the country. Engagement with ‘peripheral issues’ led to negligence of home affairs and troubles. Nixon ‘inherited’ war in Vietnam from Kennedy and Johnson, but perceived it as a mistake and a distraction from more pressuring problems. Also, it was a big obstacle in normalisation of relations with the Soviet Union.
In a recent documentary about the lessons from the life of former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, McNamara recalls an incident that took place in Vietnam in the 1990s. While visiting Vietnam after relations between the United States and Vietnam began to normalize, McNamara asked the Vietnamese leaders how they had managed to continue the war with the United States for so many years, making huge sacrifices in the process. McNamara's interlocutors told him that the United States had misjudged Vietnamese relations and underestimated Vietnamese nationalism. They told him that whereas the United States considered Vietnamese Communists as pawns of China, Vietnam had been fighting with China for a thousand years (Morris et al.). Saying that Vietnam had been fighting China for a thousand years was, of course, a bit of a stretch, but it was a reflection of a complicated relationship Vietnam has had with China throughout history. The complexity of this relationship especially became visible in the twentieth century when the two countries veered from brotherhood to hostility to cautious cooperation. Vietnamese attitudes toward China in the twentieth century may accurately describe Vietnam's overall relationship with China. The attitudes were based on the reality of asymmetric power relations between China and Vietnam. Vietnam honors China's superior power politically, economically, and militarily as long as China honor's
Following the Cold War, China’s relations with Russia developed in positive and constructive ways that endeavored to minimize differences and at times allowed Beijing and Moscow to use the image of closer cooperation to boost their respective international leverage, especially against the United States. For Beijing, the “strategic partnership” with Moscow provided a model for Chinese efforts to ensure stable relations with neighbors and
On New Year’s Day 1979, The People’s Republic of China (PRC) established formal relations with the US after 30 years of friction and short-circuiting each other’s geopolitical agendas. From squaring off in Korea and Vietnam during the Cold War, China and the US now practice two-way trade valued at over half a trillion dollars. The takeaway here is that diplomacy is rarely a zero-sum game or linear in motion.
On New Year’s Day 1979, The People’s Republic of China (PRC) established formal relations with the US after 30 years of friction and short-circuiting each other’s geopolitical agendas. From squaring off in Korea and Vietnam during the Cold War, China and the US now practice two-way trade valued at over half a trillion dollars. The takeaway here is that diplomacy is rarely a zero-sum game or linear in