50th anniversary of Nixon in China: Beijing looks forward to looking back at historic visit

Name: Nixon in China: How a US presidential trip made history 50 years ago
Uploaded: 2022-02-10T11:40:14.000Z
Duration: 5 min 10 s
Description: Nixon in China: How a US presidential trip made history 50 years ago

Foreign ministry spokesman says both US and China will host events marking the trip and signing of the Shanghai Communique

Nixon’s 1972 trip – referred to as ‘the week that changed the world’ – was the first by a US president after the establishment of Communist-ruled China in 1949

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US president Richard Nixon is accompanied by Chinese premier Zhou Enlai and other Chinese officials as he takes a walk during his trip to China. Photo: Corbis/Getty Images

Kinling Lo

Published: 7:40pm, 10 Feb 2022Updated: 4:45pm, 17 Feb 2022

Beijing is set to commemorate the 50th anniversary of US president Richard Nixon’s trip to China in February 1972 amid fraying ties between the two countries.

“This year is the 50th anniversary of president Nixon’s visit to China and the signing of the Shanghai Communique. The Shanghai Communique is the first joint document China and the US signed and it established the principles for developing bilateral relations, especially on the one-China policy. This became the political foundation of normalisation and establishment of the bilateral relationship,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said during a regular press conference on Thursday.

Zhao said both China and the US would host events that looked back to history and ahead to the future to mark the occasion, with details to be released “in due time”.

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Nixon in China: How a US presidential trip made history 50 years ago

Nixon’s trip to China in 1972 was the first time a US president visited after the establishment of Communist-ruled China in 1949. The occasion is referred to as “the week that changed the world” because it paved the way for the 1979 official formation of bilateral ties between the two countries under president Jimmy Carter.

The historic Shanghai Communique was the first document to be jointly released by the two governments and acknowledged their countries’ respective positions on the status of Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing sees as a breakaway province to be reunited with the mainland.

The document eventually created a basis for the US-China official ties that established the one-China agreement, committing Washington to acknowledge Beijing’s stance that there is only one China and that Taiwan is part of it.

Even though the policy has been reaffirmed by every incoming US administration since, current intensifying relations between US and mainland China have seen rising tensions in the Taiwan Strait. Beijing has continuously urged Washington to stick with the principle, while US President Joe Biden has said there is “no change in our policy”.