China Should Remember Lessons of Nixon Visit
The country was arguably the biggest winner from rapprochement with the U.S. a half-century ago. But it’s in danger of forgetting what made that victory possible.
Nixon’s gamble paid off — for China.
Photographer: Keystone/Hulton ArchiveChina’s leaders could be forgiven for gloating a little next week, the 50th anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to Beijing. Their nation was arguably the biggest winner from Sino-American rapprochement. But it’s in danger of forgetting what made that victory possible.
In February 1972, the country on which Nixon bet the equivalent of a geopolitical house was impoverished, isolated and engulfed in chaos. Its total GDP was only $113 billion, with a per capita income of $130. Its total foreign trade in 1970 was a paltry $4.5 billion. No one dreamed that such an economic basketcase would grow into a global superpower that now boasts the world’s second-largest economy and has replaced the Soviet Union as America’s most formidable adversary.