Nixon's China visit, 50 years on: 'New Chinese thinking, new ways of doing things and a new world'
BEIJING - In 1971, when Madam Yu Aihong heard the news that America's President was visiting China, the healthcare worker, then 20, was shocked and confused.
She had until then only known the United States as an evil imperialist and China's bitter enemy; such proclamations were plastered on banners and posters all over the country.
One such slogan was in fact on full display, providing an almost satirical backdrop to President Richard Nixon's arrival, as he stepped off Air Force One on that historic day of Feb 21, 1972 and shook Premier Zhou Enlai's hand.
"The oppressed people and oppressed nations of the world unite and fight against US imperialism and all reactionary factions!" screamed large white Chinese characters on red placards lining a section just off the tarmac, as Mr Nixon inspected the guard-of-honour.
"China and the US were on terrible terms then, so everyone was in disbelief that we would let the American President visit," said Madam Yu, a Beijinger, who is now 71.
"But it was our trusted and beloved Premier Zhou who hosted him, so that gave us assurance that we must be doing a good thing."
Excitement filled the Beijing air for the days leading up to the arrival of Mr Nixon, the first sitting American president to step foot on mainland Chinese soil.
Isolated, poor and still in the throes of the devastating Cultural Revolution, the Chinese had not seen many foreigners, much less a US leader accompanied by an entourage of nearly 400 people, including about 100 journalists.
In the three decades after the Korean War between 1950 and 1953, the US was China's avowed enemy after both found themselves on opposite sides of a bitter conflict that to this day is still known to the Chinese as "the war to resist US aggression and aid Korea".
"Only Mao could have made the decision to allow Nixon to visit," said retired Communist Party cadre Zhao Ping, 72, extolling the Great Helmsman as "magnanimous", given that his eldest son was killed during the Korean War.
But it was a difficult, if not unpopular, decision with extreme elements in the communist party still fixated on the US as their most dangerous adversary. The Gang of Four - the political faction led by Chairman Mao's wife Jiang Qing - later complained that Premier Zhou was too warm, too deferential and made too many concessions during President Nixon's visit.
The Soviet threat
"Nixon's ice-breaking trip meant there could be new Chinese thinking, new ways of doing things and a new world," Mr Zhao told The Straits Times.
Then a 22-year-old and living in China's southwestern province of Yunnan, far from his home in Beijing, Mr Zhao saw the US president's visit as one that not only marked the dawn of detente between the two countries, but also brought a glimmer of hope that things might change for the better domestically.
Chairman Mao had made overtures towards the US as early as 1970, first by telling American journalist Edgar Snow that he was willing to improve ties and then by inviting the American table-tennis team to China.
Beijing though has been insistent - and still is - on portraying the Nixon visit and the rapprochement as having been initiated by the US.
According to the official "A Concise History of The Communist Party of China", the US was "scrambling to alleviate the impact of its failure in the Vietnam War, preserve its superpower status, and meet the challenge of the Soviet Union, all of which made it extremely anxious to mend relations with China".
"China, for its part, needed a rapprochement with the United States in order to meet the direct and serious threat posed to its security by the Soviet Union, resolve the Taiwan question and achieve national reunification, and restore and expand its relations with other countries."
Once the closest of allies, China and the Soviet Union had split over ideological differences that culminated in a border clash in 1969, bringing them to the brink of war.
Not too warm, not too cold
China's state propaganda apparatus was under strict instructions not to over-hype the Nixon visit, and not to overtly censor language referring to the US as "imperialists".
As it was not treated as a state visit since the two countries did not have formal diplomatic relations, Mr Nixon was not accorded the pomp and pageantry associated with one: No welcoming crowds were organised and embassies in Beijing were not notified.
The US leader's week-long visit began with a surprise stop at Zhongnanhai, the CPC headquarters, to meet a frail Chairman Mao, then 78, and they chatted for more than an hour.
The topic of China's anti-imperialist propaganda - as seen at the airport hours earlier - came up, with the Chairman dismissing them, just as Premier Zhou had before, as "empty cannons".
"It is alright to talk well and also alright if there are no agreements, because what use is there if we stand in deadlock?" the Chinese leader reportedly said at the end of the meeting.
But China was confident that the US was willing to make concessions to signal that Mr Nixon's trip was a success; and the two sides had in fact thrashed out a draft joint communique months before, when then US national security adviser Henry Kissinger made a secret trip to Beijing to lay the groundwork for the US leader's visit.
The Shanghai Communique, issued on the last day of Mr Nixon's visit, committed both nations to not seeking "hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region", and the US acknowledging that "all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China".
Week that changed the world
President Nixon's historic gambit helped pull China out of its diplomatic exile; by 1976, Beijing had established formal relations with more than 110 countries.
The watershed summit also paved the way for Washington to switch recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, and in the ensuing decade, the US and China enjoyed a diplomatic honeymoon, with Washington selling weapons to Beijing and the two sides exchanging military intelligence.
That came to an abrupt halt after the Tiananmen crackdown in Beijing in 1989.
Bilateral ties have see-sawed since.
In a role reversal today, Washington's worries about Beijing and Moscow's political ambitions and its growing rift with the two powers have pushed China and Russia into each other's embrace.
"Fifty years on, we realise that it was not romantic visions of a new world or ideologies, but cold, hard realpolitik logic which drove both Mao and Nixon to shake hands," said S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies senior fellow Kwa Chong Guan.
The logic then - of keeping the Soviet Union in check - "has given way to grievances about the other which drives US-China relations", said Mr Kwa.
"Both the US and China are determined to pursue stability on their own terms, by maximising their respective power."
The Chinese state media Global Times last week asked three international relations experts to reflect on the milestone, and the signal was clear: The current leadership in Washington should seek inspiration from President Nixon's diplomatic legacy, especially at this time of deep mistrust and strained relations.
"China has no intention of challenging or confronting the United States, and Washington policymakers now urgently need to understand US-China relations from the perspective of historical trends," said career diplomat and senior fellow at China Institute of International Studies Yang Xiyu.
"Once again, they are facing a Nixonian choice when it comes to strategy: Do they bend to the tides of history from a statesman's vantage point, surmounting the contradictions of reality, or do they yield to the demands of political cycles like politicians, plunging themselves into the trap of these contradictions? We hope their choice will be one that will stand the test of time, like the one Nixon made."
The retired party cadre Mr Zhao, is less hopeful today than he was five decades ago.
"A turnaround in Sino-US relations is wishful thinking," he said. "Relations can improve only if the US ungrudgingly accepts China's rise."
Timeline: US-China ties
1971
Ping-Pong diplomacy.
China’s table tennis team invites members of the US team to China on April 6.
1972
US President Richard Nixon visits China. He meets Chairman Mao Zedong and signs the Shanghai Communique with Premier Zhou Enlai.
1979
Formal ties and “One China” policy. US President Jimmy Carter grants China full diplomatic recognition
1984
US President Ronald Reagan arrives in Beijing on April 26 to visit China.
1989
The Chinese government sends in troops to clear Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, which has been occupied by thousands of students demanding democratic reforms and an end to corruption. Hundreds of protesters are killed, according to reports.
In response, the US suspends military sales to China and freezes ties.
1999
Belgrade embassy bombing.
The United States and Nato apologise for the deadly bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the campaign against Serbian forces occupying Kosovo.
2000
American President Bill Clinton signs the US-China Relations Act, granting Beijing permanent normal trade relations with the US and paving the way for China to join the World Trade Organisation in 2001.
2012
The US announces its trade deficit with China rose from US$273.1 billion in 2010 to an all-time high of US$295.5 billion in 2011.
November: Significant leadership turnover in China. Mr Xi Jinping replaces Mr Hu Jintao as president, Communist Party General Secretary, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission.
2013
US President Barack Obama hosts Mr Xi at a “shirt-sleeves summit” at the Sunnylands Estate in California.
2017
US President Donald Trump says he will honour the “One China” policy in a call with President Xi. But Mr Trump also breaks with established practice by speaking on the telephone with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.
2018
Trade war. The Trump administration announces sweeping tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese imports, triggering a tit-for-tat response from China and raising fears of a trade war between the world’s largest economies.
2020
"Phase One” trade deal and Covid-19. A US-China trade deal leads to the easing of some US tariffs on Chinese imports and commits China to buying an additional US$200 billion worth of American goods over two years.
January: The Trump administration bars all non-US citizens who recently visited mainland China from entering the US after reports of the emergence of a new coronavirus in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The US and China will go on to blame each other for the Covid-19 pandemic.
2021
US and China hold their first high-level face-to-face meeting in Anchorage, Alaska. The meeting opened with one session of heated arguments in front of reporters and two sessions of closed-door discussions.
April: US senators introduce the Strategic Competition Act of 2021, seeking to counter China.
May: Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He spoke with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai by phone, making it the first such conversation on trade between the two sides since President Joe Biden took office.
November: Mr Biden and Mr Xi hold their first virtual meeting which lasted more than three-and-a-half hours, marking a conscious effort to smoothen bilateral ties. In the same month, visa restrictions on journalists from both sides are relaxed.
December: US diplomats and officials announce a boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics.
Sources: Council on Foreign Relations, China Briefing