Nixon's trip to China laid the groundwork for normalizing U.S.-China relations

Nixon's trip to China laid the groundwork for normalizing U.S.-China relations

Transcript¹

It's been 50 years since President Nixon went to China, a trip that changed the world's balance of power. The fate of Taiwan was not addressed, and the issue still stalks U.S.-China relations.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Fifty years ago this week, President Richard Nixon made his famous trip to China. And at the end of it, he had this to say.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

RICHARD NIXON: We have been here a week. This was the week that changed the world.

MARTIN: And it did. The trip helped bring China out of isolation² and realign the global balance of power. It laid a foundation for the eventual³ establishment of relations between Beijing and Washington. But the meeting failed to address one major issue, one that's become an even more pressing issue today. NPR's China affairs correspondent John Ruwitch explains.

JOHN RUWITCH, BYLINE⁴: Shortly after landing in Beijing, as the first U.S. president to set foot in China for more than two decades, Nixon was summoned. Ailing⁵ Chinese leader Mao Zedong wanted to meet. An iconic black-and-white photo released afterwards shows Nixon and National Security Adviser⁶ Henry Kissinger sitting with Mao, a translator and Chinese Premier⁷ Zhou Enlai. But there was another American at the meeting that day in Mao's cluttered⁸ study.

WINSTON LORD: It was just filled with books and manuscripts all over the place - in the back of Mao, where he sat and all the tables.

RUWITCH: Winston Lord was 34 at the time and an aide to Kissinger.

LORD: There were several very comfortable chairs we sat in, with tea served in between. There was spittoons, standing⁹ lamps. Mao, even then, was quite frail¹⁰. His doctors weren't sure he could do this meeting.

RUWITCH: But the chairman did do the meeting, putting a huge stamp of approval on the controversial visit, and setting the tone in a way that only Mao could do.

LORD: Mao kept deflecting¹¹ Nixon's efforts to engage in substantive¹² exchanges. He would give a one or two-sentence answer and say, that's something for Premier Zhou Enlai to handle.

RUWITCH: Lord says the Americans were a little disappointed at first.

LORD: But then we realized in the coming days that Mao had rather skillfully, somewhat elliptically and certainly laconically¹³ sort of put down a few markers, which gave Zhou Enlai the authority and the structure to elaborate Chinese positions in much greater detail.

RUWITCH: By the end of the week, the two sides had hammered out the Shanghai Communique, a document that has been a cornerstone of U.S.-China relations ever since.

LORD: We pulled it off, I think, very skillfully because the two sides basically agreed to postpone¹⁴ intractable problems, like Taiwan, so we could get on where we could cooperate.

RUWITCH: Where they wanted to cooperate most was in counterbalancing the Soviet¹⁵ Union, which both saw as a threat. At the time, Lord says, Beijing appeared to be happy with the arrangement. The U.S. had diplomatic relations with the ruling Communist Party's arch enemy, the nationalists based in Taiwan. And in the Shanghai Communique, the U.S. crucially acknowledged the Chinese position that Taiwan is a part of China. It was a breakthrough, says Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Shanghai's Fudan University.

WU XINBO: Before Nixon's visit, the U.S. policy on Taiwan issue was kind of one China, one Taiwan - or two China.

RUWITCH: Indeed, just months earlier, the Nixon administration had tried to keep Taiwan in the United Nations under a two-Chinas formula. Taipei eventually left the U.N. And Beijing was voted in in the fall of 1971. With Nixon's China visit in February of '72...

WU: The U.S. adopted the one-China policy, which means there's one China and Taiwan is part of China. So that's very important for China.

RUWITCH: Washington didn't agree to switch diplomatic relations right away, though. And it kept its defense¹⁶ treaty with Taiwan intact. A couple of weeks after Nixon returned home, the Taiwanese ambassador to the U.S. visited the White House. It was recorded on the Nixon tapes.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JAMES SHEN: Well, Mr. President, I'm going back to Taiwan.

RUWITCH: He asks if Nixon had a message for Taiwan's president, Chiang Kai-shek.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

NIXON: I wish him good health. And...

RUWITCH: Nixon wished him good health and said he knew how painful his visit was for Taiwan. But the U.S., he said, had to take the long view in all of this. In the five decades since, Taiwan has remained separate from the mainland. It has thrived economically and politically. But its fate is as unresolved as ever. And tension has been rising as China-U.S. relations stumble. Shelley Rigger, a professor of political science at Davidson College, says the way Nixon warmed relations with China in secret did not go down well in Taiwan.

SHELLEY RIGGER: The Taiwanese absolutely saw this process as a betrayal.

RUWITCH: And, she says, it also created mistrust between Beijing and Washington.

RIGGER: I would argue that Beijing, to this day, looks back on those events as a kind of betrayal and says, you know, there's an original sin here.

WU: I think the discussion between the two sides kind of gave Beijing the reassurance¹⁷ that over time, this issue could be handled in a way satisfactory for Beijing.

RUWITCH: Wu Xinbo of Fudan University says that hasn't happened. And from Beijing's perspective, the U.S. is once again playing the spoiler.

WU: On the Taiwan issue, the U.S. is trying to discover the geopolitical and geo-economic value of Taiwan, and play its card against China by putting Taiwan in the broader framework of U.S. Indo-Pacific project.

RUWITCH: At the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, Calif., there's a room covering the February 1972 China trip. It has statues of Nixon and Zhou Enlai, a video documentary and artifacts, like a tin of panda cigarettes from a banquet. Visitors can also flip¹⁸ through images on a touchscreen display from the yellow legal pads on which Nixon scribbled¹⁹ copious²⁰ notes. And they're telling.

JOE LOPEZ: This is an interesting one here, this section - what they want, what we want, what we both want.

RUWITCH: Joe Lopez works at the library.

Can you read it?

LOPEZ: Yeah. So what they want, President Nixon writes, build up their world credentials²¹. No. 2, Taiwan. No. 3, get U.S. out of Asia.

RUWITCH: He says the U.S. wanted help ending the war in Vietnam and a reduced threat of confrontation²² with China.

LOPEZ: What we both want, reduced danger of confrontation and conflict, a more stable Asia and a restraint of USSR.

RUWITCH: The Soviet Union may be gone and the war in Vietnam long over. But from the Chinese perspective, Nixon's words were prophetic. They're building global credentials. They'd probably like the U.S. out of Asia. And Beijing is still trying to get its hands on Taiwan.

John Ruwitch, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF J LORENZO'S "RAIN ON LEAF")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

3 eventual   

adj.最后的，结局的，最终的

参考例句：

• Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
• Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 ailing   

v.生病

参考例句：

• They discussed the problems ailing the steel industry. 他们讨论了困扰钢铁工业的问题。
• She looked after her ailing father. 她照顾有病的父亲。

6 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

7 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

8 cluttered   

v.杂物，零乱的东西零乱vt.( clutter的过去式和过去分词 )；乱糟糟地堆满，把…弄得很乱；（以…） 塞满…

参考例句：

• The room is cluttered up with all kinds of things. 零七八碎的东西放满了一屋子。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The desk is cluttered with books and papers. 桌上乱糟糟地堆满了书报。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

10 frail   

adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的

参考例句：

• Mrs. Warner is already 96 and too frail to live by herself.华纳太太已经九十六岁了，身体虚弱，不便独居。
• She lay in bed looking particularly frail.她躺在床上，看上去特别虚弱。

11 deflecting   

（使）偏斜， （使）偏离， （使）转向( deflect的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A variety of mechanical surfaces have been employed for deflecting the exhaust jets of solid-propellant rockets. 人们已经用过各种类型的机械控制面来偏转固体推进剂火箭的排气流。
• If she made a leading statement, he was expert deflecting her into more impersonal channels. 只要她一开口，他就会巧妙地把她的话题转到与个人无关的问题上去。

12 substantive   

adj.表示实在的；本质的、实质性的；独立的；n.实词，实名词；独立存在的实体

参考例句：

• They plan to meet again in Rome very soon to begin substantive negotiations.他们计划不久在罗马再次会晤以开始实质性的谈判。
• A president needs substantive advice,but he also requires emotional succor. 一个总统需要实质性的建议，但也需要感情上的支持。

13 laconically   

adv.简短地，简洁地

参考例句：

• "I have a key,'said Rhett laconically, and his eyes met Melanie's evenly. "我有钥匙，"瑞德直截了当说。他和媚兰的眼光正好相遇。 来自飘（部分）
• 'says he's sick,'said Johnnie laconically. "他说他有玻"约翰尼要理不理的说。 来自飘（部分）

14 postpone   

v.延期，推迟

参考例句：

• I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
• She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。

15 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

16 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

17 reassurance   

n.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• He drew reassurance from the enthusiastic applause.热烈的掌声使他获得了信心。
• Reassurance is especially critical when it comes to military activities.消除疑虑在军事活动方面尤为关键。

18 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

19 scribbled   

v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下

参考例句：

• She scribbled his phone number on a scrap of paper. 她把他的电话号码匆匆写在一张小纸片上。
• He scribbled a note to his sister before leaving. 临行前，他给妹妹草草写了一封短信。

20 copious   

adj.丰富的，大量的

参考例句：

• She supports her theory with copious evidences.她以大量的例证来充实自己的理论。
• Every star is a copious source of neutrinos.每颗恒星都是丰富的中微子源。

21 credentials   

n.证明，资格，证明书，证件

参考例句：

• He has long credentials of diplomatic service.他的外交工作资历很深。
• Both candidates for the job have excellent credentials.此项工作的两个求职者都非常符合资格。

22 confrontation   

n.对抗，对峙，冲突

参考例句：

• We can't risk another confrontation with the union.我们不能冒再次同工会对抗的危险。
• After years of confrontation,they finally have achieved a modus vivendi.在对抗很长时间后，他们最后达成安宁生存的非正式协议。