Nixon's visit to China: Driving a wedge between China and the Soviet Union

This might seem a strange way to begin a blog post about American diplomacy in the Nixon era, but the year 1949 was significant for both the Russians and the Chinese. For the Soviets, it was the year that they became the second nation (after the United States) to get the atomic bomb. For the communist Chinese, it was the year that they proclaimed the "People's Republic of China" in the mainland, which is the communist government that still rules China today. Both of these were massive events that were of the utmost importance for this story, but it was the second event that has the most explanatory power for what went on there. Thus, it is the second of these two events that I will be focusing on here at the beginning of this post, as a way of setting up my discussion of the other things later.

Mao Zedong, dictator who proclaimed the "People's Republic of China"

After the Chinese Civil War, communism spread to China in a massive revolution in 1949

The proclamation of the "People's Republic of China" came after a decades-long civil war in China, which was still going on at this time. I describe this in some detail in one of my other posts here, and will thus not go into it much here. Suffice it to say for our purposes today that the old government (simply called the "Republic of China") had lost the civil war with the communists; and that the old state was thus forced to retreat to Taiwan and other offshore islands. (Chiang Kai-Shek was the ruler of these outlying islands now, just as he had been in the mainland only a few years earlier.) The civil war was still going on at this time, as I mentioned earlier, and did not end until May 1950 (in the following year). The communists enacted revenge killings against the losing side at this time (which killed at least half a million people); and the so-called "land reforms" of this time also killed one million people or more, because a certain class of landowner was targeted for extermination. In the words of one of my other posts, "It's possible that the civil war might have continued past that with a communist invasion of Taiwan, but for the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 - a war that communist China would officially enter in October 1950; thus declaring war on the United States, and necessitating a greater focus on the war with America [in Korea], than on the war with the old regime in Taiwan." (See my other post for details.)

Chinese forces cross the Yalu River - Korean War, 1951

Who was "the real China"? (Not a small question at this time ... )

Why am I reviewing this here? Because there was now a controversy over which of these two regions was "the real China" - the old government of the "Republic of China" (which had relocated to the area of Taiwan), or the new government of the "People's Republic of China" (which was now ruling from the mainland). The reason that this is important is that the "United Nations" has five privileged members with veto power over any actions it might take, and which are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Whichever one of them was considered "the real China" would also be considered one of those five privileged members. At the end of World War II, the victory coalition of the five main nations - which were America, Britain, France, Russia, and "China" - had given themselves special status in the United Nations that they had just created. But now that the Chinese Civil War was ending in a split between the two sides of that war, there was now a controversy over which one of the two would continue to have these special powers and privileges. This was not a small thing at this time, because the Korean War was starting that year, and there was actually a United Nations intervention because the communists had failed to veto it. They would have liked to veto it, of course, if they'd had the chance. But with the Soviet Union's boycott of the United Nations, there was no longer anyone available on the communist side to veto the United Nations intervention in Korea, because "the real China" was considered to be Taiwan. (Taiwan was in favor of the intervention, and actually was depending upon that intervention for its support.) Thus, the communist Chinese found themselves facing a major international coalition of United Nations allies in Korea - an alliance which they could have prevented from forming, if only they had been considered "the real China" at this time.

Chiang Kai-Shek signs the United Nations charter on behalf of the "Republic of China," 1945

Tensions between China and the other superpowers (including the Russians)

This complicated relationship with the United States became antagonistic once again in two major incidents over Taiwan in the 1950s (one in the mid fifties, and one in the late fifties). The communist Chinese again attempted to bring Taiwan back under their control at this time. These attempts both failed when President Eisenhower threatened an American military intervention, and so the separate status of Taiwan was maintained for some time afterward (and still continues at this time today). In mainland China, one might note briefly here that this was also the time of China's so-called "Great Leap Forward," in which at least 18 million people died in the Great Chinese Famine that these policies caused. By way of comparison, this is larger than the total death toll for the Holocaust. (I will not elaborate here, but will link to this Wikipedia page to provide further details for any that are interested.) These things probably didn't have a tendency to bring American approval, to say the least, but things were still not going well for their alliance with the Soviet Union, their fellow communist superpower to the north. Despite their shared ideology of communism, the alliance between them was beginning to break down; and they had competing visions of how to deal with the West that were incompatible with one another. The Soviets offered to help the Chinese in developing nuclear weapons (a major thing), but even this was not pacifying Mao Zedong. Thus, when China got nuclear weapons in 1964 (partially due to Soviet help), their relationship became much more complicated. This was a move that the Soviets would have cause to regret in their later relations with the Chinese, including in their border conflict of 1969.

"Project 596" - China's first nuclear detonation, 1964

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, Chinese leader Mao Zedong, and Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh - Beijing, 1959

The brilliant timing of Nixon's 1972 visit disrupted the alliance between the communists

It was in this environment of increased distrust between the two communist states that American president Richard Nixon visited the Chinese mainland in 1972. President Nixon could sense that relations were deteriorating between China and the Soviet Union at this time, and he thus wanted to take advantage of this situation while the opportunity was there. Thus, he emerged from China with some important diplomatic agreements that brought the United States closer to the "People's Republic of China." This meant trade relations between these two nations, which have been important for both nations since this time. But it also had the effect of driving a wedge even further between China and the Soviet Union. Richard Nixon's visit could not have been timed better for the United States and its allies, because it weakened the military alliance between the two communist superpowers, and thus made the world safer for democracy. It might have been unexpected for a hardened anti-communist like Richard Nixon to negotiate such close ties with this communist country. (Especially when it was then not quite out of its so-called "Cultural Revolution," which killed at least a quarter of a million of its own people.) But when you consider that it helped turn the tide of the Cold War when he did this, his reasons for it start to become clear, and one sees how they were actually consistent with one another. Indeed, his opposition to communism is what motivated him to do it in the first place, and he thus took advantage of this opportunity while he (and the free world) had the chance.

Nixon visit to China, 1972

Taiwan lost its superpower status in the United Nations, which was a bit of a disadvantage ...

The biggest disadvantage of this Nixon visit to China, though, was having the People's Republic of China (rather than Taiwan) be considered "the real China" now in the United Nations. The people of Taiwan understandably had felt a little betrayed by the loss of their veto power in the United Nations, and they also were not happy about the loss of their membership in the United Nations Security Council, which had been permanent before. In fact, Taiwan no longer had any membership in the United Nations at all; and these special privileges now went to the communist state that had often and repeatedly threatened to invade it in the past (and still continues to threaten this at times). But the communist Chinese refused to join the United Nations as long as it seemed to recognize Taiwan as a separate nation, and so the people of Taiwan lost their membership in the United Nations altogether. (Although they did join other international organizations later, under other - less controversial - names. For example, they called themselves "Chinese Taipei" in the case of the International Olympic Committee.)

United Nations Security Council

... but it was nonetheless helpful to have mainland China join the United Nations forum

If there was an advantage to be gained by the switch here, it may have actually been the inclusion of China in the United Nations, which gave it an opportunity to discuss things with other nations in a peaceful - and productive - way. The United Nations has not often worked well as a world police force, in my opinion, or as an enforcer of international law over otherwise sovereign nations (although I acknowledge that there are some rare exceptions to this, and would consider the United Nations intervention in Korea to be one of them). But though the United Nations has not often worked well as a world governing body (given that the Third World dictators are the overwhelming majority there), it has often provided a good place for the various nations of the world to discuss their disagreements with one another. Some disagreements can be settled by a peaceful dialogue in a world forum, in short, and the United Nations is at its best when it sticks to doing this, rather than becoming a self-appointed "supreme authority" over sovereign nations. (But that's a rant for another post, which I will not do here.)

United Nations General Assembly

Comments on the free trade between China and the United States

But one of the benefits of these agreements was to open the (relatively) free trade between America and communist China, and thus open China to the outside in the process. I recognize that this causes feelings of discomfort to some people I know, and that some respectable people on my own side disagree with me on this issue. Some, for example, have argued that free trade with oppressive regimes (like China) enables them to continue to oppress their people, and that "tariffs would do much to stop this exploitation." The problem with these arguments, it would seem to me, is that tariffs have not been shown to be effective at accomplishing this goal (as the record shows). Indeed, they actually make it worse for the people living under these tariffs by driving them further and further into poverty. If one wants to help the Chinese people, it would seem that we should continue to give them access to our markets just like anyone else that we are interacting with, and encourage them to open up their ports in ways that will break their isolation from the rest of the world. This isolation would serve only to increase their government's control over them in the long run, and they would seem to be better served by an increased interaction with their various neighbors abroad - both those closer to home, and those far distant from them.

Richard Nixon

Comments on the turning of the tide of the Cold War at this time

Even for people who are against free trade, though (and particularly the free trade going on with China), the Nixon visit to China is sometimes seen as a blessing in some other ways, such as the turning of the tide of the Cold War that I mentioned earlier. It seems to have had the intended effect of dividing the communist world at this time, and the national security advantages of this breakdown were of the utmost importance to the free world. It drove a wedge between the communist superpower nations that was not removed until 1989, when the situation was deteriorating rapidly in the Soviet Union and its conquests. Thus, even for those who oppose free trade and the Chinese communist government (and I count myself an opponent of their government), these national security advantages are a reason for this diplomacy that one would find compelling. In more than one way, it was a force of success in the free world; and I confess myself an enthusiastic supporter of it who hopes that it will continue on for years to come.

Footnote to this blog post:

In 2009, Obama's former communications adviser Anita Dunn – who is now a senior adviser to President Biden – once referred to Mao Zedong as one of her “favorite political philosophers” (source: video record of her comment). Considering that his “political philosoph[y]” involved the various mass murders that I have discussed in this post, I have trouble understanding the reasons for such praise.

If you liked this post, you might also like:

A review of Michael Wood's "The Story of China"

Why Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan didn't go communist (when the rest of China did)

A review of "Korea: The Forgotten War" (Timeless Media Group)

A review of PBS's "Nixon" (American Experience)

A review of CNN's "The Cold War"

Part of a series about

The Cold War

Berlin Blockade 1948-1949
Marshall Plan 1948-1951
Korean War 1950-1953
McCarthyism 1947-1956 (see “Espionage” post)
Cuban Revolution 1953-1959
Bay of Pigs 1961
Building of the Berlin Wall 1961-1962 (see “Eastern Europe” post)
Cuban Missile Crisis 1962
Nixon’s visit to China 1972
Vietnam War 1955-1975
Angolan Civil War 1975-2002
Soviet war in Afghanistan 1979-1989
“Able Archer 83” 1983
Reagan’s “Star Wars” program 1983-1993
Fall of the Berlin Wall 1989 (see “Star Wars” post)
Dissolution of the Soviet Union 1990-1991 (see “Star Wars” post)

Latin America in the Cold War

Eastern Europe in the Cold War
North Africa and the Middle East in the Cold War

South Asia and Indonesia in the Cold War
Nuclear weapons (1945 – the present)

Espionage (throughout the Cold War)
Space race (most of the Cold War)
Overview of the Cold War