- Start
- Feb 21, 197290% CONFIDENCEfrom the source
- End
- Feb 28, 197290% CONFIDENCEfrom the source
Nixon Becomes the First US President to Visit China
- Nixon travelled to the People's Republic of China from 21 to 28 February 1972, becoming the first US president to visit mainland China while in office[1]
- He met Mao Zedong, chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, on 21 February, almost as soon as he reached Beijing, with Henry Kissinger and Winston Lord present[1][2]
- The party flew from Guam to Shanghai on the morning of 21 February and went on to Beijing; his arrival ended 23 years without official diplomatic ties between the two countries[2]
- Extensive talks with Premier Zhou Enlai covered the normalisation of relations, while Secretary of State William Rogers met Foreign Minister Ji Pengfei[3]
- The trip had been prepared through a secret channel run through Pakistani president Yahya Khan and two Kissinger trips to Beijing in 1971, and publicly softened by the "Ping Pong Diplomacy" exchanges of 1971 and 1972[1]
- The visit produced the Shanghai Communiqué at its close, in which each government set out its position on Taiwan, the central obstacle to normalisation[1]
- Nixon and his party also toured Hangzhou and Shanghai, and visited the Great Wall and the Ming tombs[2][3]
References 382% CONFIDENCE
The first entry is always the pin's source. Overall confidence is a weighted average of how firmly each reference supports the start and end times used above; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newest.
- [1]90%history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/rapprochement-chinahistory.state.gov· Posted Sep 21, 2026· Starts Feb 21, 1972 ✓· Ends Feb 28, 1972 ✓· 50% of score
The Office of the Historian states that "Nixon travelled to Communist China February 21–28, 1972, becoming the first U.S. President to visit mainland China while in office", and the Shanghai Communiqué itself records the visit as running "from February 21 to February 28, 1972".
- [2]75%1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China (Wikipedia)en.wikipedia.org· Added Sep 21, 2026· 50% of score
The itinerary from the White House departure on 17 February through Hawaii and Guam to the four-hour flight into Shanghai on the morning of 21 February, and the detail that the arrival ended 23 years without diplomatic ties.[1]
- [3]95%Joint Statement Following Discussions With Leaders of the People's Republic of China (FRUS 1969-1976, Volume XVII, Document 203)history.state.gov· Published Feb 27, 1972· 0% of score
The Shanghai Communiqué itself, printed in Foreign Relations of the United States. Records the visit's dates, the 21 February meeting with Mao and the talks with Zhou Enlai and Ji Pengfei.[1]
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