Richard Nixon essays

Richard Nixon essays The Soviet Union was America's great adversary in this era, but since 1960 the USSR had not had good relations with China. Nixon thought that improved Sino-American ties would undermine the Soviets. He also hoped that China would pressure the North Vietnamese to end the war. A year before his election Nixon had written of the Chinese, "There is no place on this small planet for a billion of its potentially most able people to live in angry isolation." As president, Nixon began with small steps. First he exchanged sports teams: China sent over its world champion table tennis team, and "ping pong" diplomacy began. Then Kissinger in 1971 was sent on a secret mission to Beijing to prepare for a summit between U.S. and Chinese leaders. Thereafter Kissinger met more than twenty times with Chinese leaders to discuss world issues. Acting on behalf of Nixon, Kissinger and Chinese Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai made a deal: the U.S. would withdraw all its troops from Taiwan, end its opposition to seating China at the United Nations (which meant expelling Taiwan from the seat); and Nixon would be received in China for a summit. In October China was seated in the UN without American opposition. In February 1972 Nixon traveled to Beijing, and it was a media triumph for him. What was most compelling about it all was that it was Nixon, a man who had accused communists of wanting to take over the world, who opened the ancient nation's sealed portals. The two nations signed a declaration of principles known as the Shanghai Communique. The U.S. recognized the principle of only "one China." They also agreed to combat "hegemony"-meaning Soviet Russian influence-in Asia. Nixon established low-level diplomatic relations with China, sending George Bush to head up a new American mission. Full diplomatic recognition, however, was not exchanged. Nixon was able to parlay his dtente with China into a more constructive relation with the Soviet ...