Rapprochement, debates, dissidents: US presidential visits to China
US President Donald Trump’s summit with China’s leader Xi Jinping in Beijing this week was the latest in decades of high-level diplomatic encounters between the two countries marked by drama, tension and surprising breakthroughs. Here are some of the most notable visits by US presidents to China: Cold War summit The US cut ties with China when the Communist Party (CCP) took over the country in 1949. Over two decades later, in February 1972, then-US president Richard Nixon flew to China to break the ice. Nixon met with Chairman Mao Zedong as well as premier Zhou Enlai, with whom he famously raised glasses of the fiery Chinese spirit baijiu. At a banquet in the Great Hall of the People, Nixon declared “there is no reason for us to be enemies”. A secret visit by national security adviser Henry Kissinger the year before laid the groundwork for the presidential trip, alongside reciprocal visits of table tennis teams termed “ping-pong diplomacy”. Nixon’s visit kicked off formal contacts that led to full diplomatic ties in January 1979. The landmark trip is widely seen as a catalyst for China’s emergence from decades of isolation. Ill-fated barbecue George H W Bush’s February 1989 visit was overshadowed by growing calls for democratic reform in China that would culminate in massive protests and a bloody crackdown later that year. A Texas-style barbecue hosted by Bush at a Beijing hotel during his visit sparked a small diplomatic crisis after the Chinese government objected to the inclusion of astrophysicist and dissident Fang Lizhi on the guest list. Officials attempted to block Fang multiple times on his way to the banquet. Bush later expressed regret to the Chinese over the incident. In June that year, Fang played a key role in the pro-democracy Tiananmen protests that were violently crushed by the Chinese government. Televised debate Bill Clinton’s nine-day tour of China in 1998 marked a thaw in relations after the US slapped...
Original source: Dawn Pakistan