Episode 78: RICHARD NIXON 1972 The Foundation of Peace (Part 8) The Shanghai Communique

While China represented mystery, exotic locales, and an entirely different cultural experience for Americans watching back home on television.  There was still a lot of work being done on the trip itself. There was a lot at stake for both countries and for allies around the world who were watching and worrying about what it all would mean for peace and world order.  This was especially true for three other countries in particular,  America's long standing ally in Taiwan,  China's ally in North Vietnam, and in the Soviet Union, the other great Communist power on Earth who was for the moment not an ally of either country involved.

A communique on the new friendship being forged during this week was being written by the leadership of both countries and its wording was a struggle.  By the time the parties arrived in Hangzhou a strain on both sides was beginning to show. But both sides were determined that a communique would emerge that would work for all. President Nixon, Premier Zhou Enlai and Henry Kissinger would keep on negotiating until 4 am on this day before the final leg to Shanghai. It was announced the Communique was ready, and then it all fell apart.

Here is the story of how a State Department, who had had its leader Secretary of State Bill Rogers kept out of the main discussions from the start, objected to entire sections of the communique and almost led to its derailment.  How Henry Kissinger had to return to the bargaining table with a frustrated Chinese contingent. And how one man took it upon himself, sensing all of the issues were within the American delegation, to save the day, the communique, and make the trip an everlasting success with a late night visit to the villa of the State Department contingent.

The seeds planted in  that moment, a half century later, still bare fruit, even though our current relationship with China is strained, 

"This diplomatic triumph was one of the great American successes of the past century... because the Shanghai Communique structure has worked, Chinese can associate with whomever they choose without asking, hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty, and I have been succeeded by tens of thousands of American investors and businesspeople who have helped build the largest bilateral trading relationship in world history. Around $160 billion of U.S. goods and services are sold in China annually, representing nearly one million U.S. jobs, with another 100,000 American jobs supported by Chinese direct investment in the United States. "  -  Stephen Orlins has been President of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations since 2005, for  The Diplomat  on February 28, 2017 article 

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