My latest in PJ Media:
On July 15, 1971, President Richard Nixon shocked the world by announcing that he, who had built his political reputation on fighting Communism (and earned the incandescent hatred of the American Left in doing so), would become the first president to visit Communist China. And that, my friend, is where our present troubles began.
The visit took place in February 1972 and led, several years after Nixon was out of office, to U.S. recognition of the Beijing government as the sole legitimate government of China and the withdrawal of that recognition of the Taiwanese government, the Chinese Nationalists who maintained a relatively free society on that island after the fall of the mainland to totalitarianism.
For opening the U.S. to Communist China, Nixon has been heralded as a great, far-seeing statesman. A common assessment of his presidency goes along the lines of “Well, yes, he was a crook, but on the other side of the ledger, he did reach out to Mainland China.” Nixon himself was aware of the significance of what he was doing, saying while in China: “This was the week that changed the world.”
Writing in the Washington Post in February 2012 to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the event, David Ignatius opined that “Richard Nixon is hardly a role model, overall; he was a devious president who encouraged illegal actions by his subordinates. But he was a clever strategist — never more so than in the opening to China that culminated in his February 1972 visit to Beijing.” The composer John Adams even wrote an opera, Nixon in China, celebrating the visit; in it, the Nixon character sings triumphantly that he has now made history.
No doubt about that. But not all history that is made is good. The coronavirus pandemic has finally made it clear, if it wasn’t already, that Nixon’s visit to China, insofar as it paved the way for the normalization of relations with the People’s Republic, was one of the most misguided and damaging aspects of his presidency, far outstripping Watergate.
The outreach to China enabled the legitimization of a bloodthirsty Marxist-Leninist regime that enslaves and brutalizes its own people. That Chinese people were “willing” to work for starvation wages led to the wholesale destruction of numerous American industries, as it became much more common in the United States to see goods of all kinds labeled “Made in China” than “Made in the USA.” Trump was the first President to address this problem, and was roundly excoriated as a racist for doing so.
But imagine how much better off economically the United States would be today if our manufacturing that was outsourced to China had remained in this country. What’s more, we wouldn’t be dependent upon a rapacious Communist dictatorship for basic necessities.
There is much more. Read the rest here.
CogitoErgoSum says
Hey, don’t despair. There is still some hope. The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture just reclassified dogs as pets instead of livestock. Must be a big disappointment to Ayatollah Khamenei in Iran though – and that makes the news all the better.
https://thefederalistpapers.org/us/game-changer-china-finally-reclassifies-dogs-pets-instead-livestock-amid-coronavirus-outcry
carpediadem says
test
Dawne Swift says
Yes – this gives a small amount of hope that China will gradually develop along good lines.
Tony Stark says
Equally disappointing was when General Scowcroft, advisor to President G.H.W. Bush, toasted Chinese President Deng Xiaoping, just weeks after the PLA crushed the Free China democracy movement in Tiananmen Square. Not to mention how President Clinton & Vice President Gore essentially sold US secrets to the Communist Chinese for political cash, in violation of every campaign finance statute. Then there’s Ms. Clinton’s bathroom server, which allowed the PLA to hack and spy on top secret US government information, including CIA assets in China. Call Lemony Snicket, cause we got a series of unfortunate events!
mortimer says
The Communist Party of China should be billed for the losses in the global economic meltdown. This crisis, like that of Chernobyl was caused by the communist ruling system. The commissars who could have protected the public, did not understand the science involved and made a series of wrong decisions.
James Lincoln says
mortimer, I suspect that Pres. Trump will find a way to extract some very significant money out of China.
Increased tariffs???
Leon Degney says
OK then, how about billing the US for all the destruction cause by the GFC, along with the H1N1 virus that was denied by the US as having begun ther and for six months blamed Mexico. It’s not China who is to blame for taking all the industry but the outright greed of US corporations and the same goes for other countries who allowed their companies to be relocated there. Shortsighted and greedy is all that can be said for them. As for the “politicians” who allowed this to happen, there is no more to be said, they are after all just puppets, not really politicians.
rooare says
Politicians are puppets to be sure, bought and paid for by the highest bidder. What we don’t have and are in desperate need of is statesmen, that is honest and impartial politicians.
Lloyd Miller says
Absolutely! I was a member of Young Americans for Freedom when the despicable Nixon / Kissinger team arranged a ping-pong match against China. We picketed the ping pong match to no avail, but we were RIGHT!
VRWC member77 says
It’s never really a good thing when entering into an agreement with a long standing brutal regime (see Saudi Arabia). At the time however the intensity and machinations of the Cold War were still very hot. Also at that time China wasn’t a (and STILL isn’t today) super power that could impose a military presence anywhere in the world like the Soviet Union could. It is unfortunate however that the U.S. at that time also didn’t realize that we were the much more potent super power. Hopefully now that China has unleased the CCP VIRUS on the world, the world will make them pay for their deviant malfeasance.
VRWC member77 says
I personally think the worst thing Nixon did was take us off the Gold Standard.
spiro says
Exactly now we print money with no backing
only a federal reserve
Note (debt)
A bank note
11B40 says
Greetings:
I got off the Red China bus when no one could explain “Money for Commies ???” to me.
Wellington says
Well, I’m no big fan of Nixon (he was a RINO and a larger federal government kind of guy in many ways) but his main point in 1972 was a divide and conquer strategy, i.e., placing a wedge between the USSR and China (and yes, I know this was occurring already between these two totalitarian polities since 1959 but Nixon furthered it, hastened it, deepened it and thus provided America with more leverage in the midst of the Cold War).
And I don’t think that stupidly outsourcing so much of our manufacturing (ridiculously including having more than 90% of our antibiotics made in China) can be laid at Nixon’s feet. There’s a huge jump from Nixon recognizing China to caving into China which many subsequent administrations, both Republican and Democratic, engaged in. Just saying.
China sucks and should never be trusted but this doesn’t mean Nixon did the wrong thing. Would welcome more opinions here.
roberta says
+1 I just dont think Nixon could have ever imagined the disgusting profiteers and globalist that were to follow.
Dont most of us (even after all we have seen) find ourselves in disbelief of how much the Left hates our nation? How rapidly they side with dictatorships around the world, birds of a feather.
Some things just cant be seen coming. Not even by someone with all of the information setting right in front of them.
I believe that it was Noah that God told that ”not even in his mind did he conceive of the evil man could do.” Anyone, please correct me if that quote is too far off.
James Lincoln says
roberta says,
“Dont most of us (even after all we have seen) find ourselves in disbelief of how much the Left hates our nation?”
The left hates our nation but, apparently, not enough to leave it.
I guess if they left it, they wouldn’t have a chance to destroy it and re-create it into a totalitarian state…
gravenimage says
I understand and agree with your points, Wellington, but I think that playing this kind of footsie with evil is rarely a good idea–especially when it also involves throwing actual allies–in this case Taiwan–under the bus.
Wellington says
Well, gravenimage, America has had to play footsie with evil many times because most of the world sucks. Our alliance with Stalin against Hitler in WWII serves as a sterling example.
I would also point out that when Nixon went to China in 1972, Taiwan was still an authoritarian (and very corrupt) regime under Chiang Kai-shek and would remain such for a while even after his death in 1975, so it’s not as though Nixon was leaving a democracy in the lurch. Moreover, it was not Nixon but Carter who extended official recognition to mainland China and gave up diplomatic relations with Taiwan (1979), though de facto we still kept very close ties with Taiwan as we do to this day (even Obama sold them billions of dollars of military equipment).
I think it also should be noted that as far back as the Eisenhower Administration America had secret negotiations with mainland China and JFK openly opined that not having diplomatic relations with mainland China was absurd, so Nixon by no means came out of nowhere with his opening to China. It is imperative I believe to understand what Nixon did with China in the context I just related and once again I can’t blame Nixon for outsourcing so much of what we used to make to China. That came after Nixon and the blame for this can’t be laid at his feet.
gravenimage says
Wellington, I take your point. I have studied WWII a great deal and have reluctantly concluded that the alliance with the Soviets was probably necessary to defeat Hitler. This alliance did not last, though, nor should it have.
And you are right that Taiwan was an authoritarian regime in the early 1970s–hardly as free as it is today, where it is a near first-world nation. That being said, even then it was *far* better than China under the murderous Mao.
I have looked at the historical context here, and still believe that Nixon’s move was a terrible idea.
Wellington, this is one of the few areas where we disagree–I always respect your point of view, even when we come to differing conclusions.
Wellington says
Thanks for your reply, graveinimage. And I too always respect your views even on those rare occasions when we disagree—as here. Besides, there’s no one I agree with all the time, even myself if that makes any sense. Take care, my friend.
jewdog says
For all its faults, China is no patsy when it comes to Islam. They have totally eliminated Islamic terrorism and separatism in Xinjiang through ruthless methods. Despite this, the Communists cynically partner with North Korea and cozy up to Iran, and, of course, are touchingly concerned about the “Palestinians”. In that sense they are like the Russians: squash Islam at home and pander to it abroad.
Well, let’s face it, the Chicoms, like all the other coms, are into power, and they will steamroller anything that gets in their way. Even the limited capitalism they allow serves their interests by providing just enough wealth to keep the wolves from their door. So yeah, let’s quit aiding and abetting them by being dependent on them.
As a side note, I’m actually glad that those PETA crusaders are after them for their disgusting wet markets.
roberta says
I was told, by Chinese, while in China, that the chicom governments greatest fear was a ”worker revolt”. The government imagined that revolt would come out of a lack of employment, and they must do all they can to keep people employed and fed.
I’d sure like to see lots of companies come back to the USA, that would give the chicoms something domestic to worry about and take their greedy eyes off the rest of the world.
gravenimage says
PETA also condemns Halal slaughter.
Hoppla poppla says
We have 50 wet markets in New York alone and nobody seems to care about them.
gravenimage says
I have worked against wet markets here in San Francisco. Seldom humane or a good idea in terms of sanitation.
sixlittlerabbits says
Agree with you completely, Robert Spencer: Nixon’s opening to China was a disaster and a sellout. Think so today and thought so when it happened.
Gamzu says
Cozying up to the Communists in China also undercut the rationale for fighting the Communists in Vietnam, especially since Nixon did not adequately explain to the American people the anti-Soviet reason for the move. The liberal press in the U.S. went absolutely ga-ga over the Maoist regime and its “Serve the People” slogan.
gravenimage says
The Worst Part of Nixon’s Legacy Isn’t Watergate. It’s China.
……………….
This is so true–I’m glad to hear someone say this. Even most of those who didn’t like Nixon somehow thought he was a sage for embracing Communist China.
I was just 11 when Nixon went to China, and I had assumed that we were going to help China become a free country. When I realized that this was not the case–that we were instead just lending luster to this tyranny, and that moreover we had thrown Taiwan under the bus in the process, I was sickened.
Isabella says
The pandémie originates from China and you will never hear an apology from China for the despair, the deaths the pandemic is causing. Imagine for a minute if the pandemic had started in the USA. Do you think that China would suffer the pandemic without complaining to the rest of the world about the awful USA? Why the media are so silent about China’s responsibility in all of this present mess?
Dawne Swift says
Very true
tgusa says
Watergate was a nothing burger compared to what was done to Trump. The democrat run government colluded with Russians in order to launch a spy operation focused on Russian collusion within the Trump camp. And then, they have tried to cover it up.
Nixon went to China and later Clinton sold the USA to China. Excluding China, if there is any blame to be assigned in the USA for the virus it is not Nixon it is Clinton. But what would anyone expect from that sleazebag. Clinton is royalty among democrats, just think about that for a moment.
Marigold says
The Chinese people will end up getting rid of their communist government given time . After change has been ruthlessly imposed from the top it always starts to come up from the bottom as the people of Hong Kong have shown before the Wuhan virus stopped them in their tracks.
As for President Nixon he probably started the process of kow towing to China which all Western Nations have indulged in selling their own people down the river in the process.
China also had a go at the US early in the pandemic blaming them for starting it knowing that the leftists would swallow that theory whole because they are consumed with hatred for the US.
As for the MSM and the UN they too are friends of the Chinese government so they will be on the defensive about the Chinese role in the pandemic.
Don’t hold your breath either waiting for an apology from godless atheists because an apology won’t be forthcoming.Any regime that de -values human life as much as godless communists do and that includes the lives of Muslims won’t ever admit a mistake or apologise for the suffering and grief they have caused around the world.
gravenimage says
Grimly, the Chinese have been under the Communist heel for over 70 years now, and it shows no sign of falling.
Kepha says
Basically, I agree with the article. I also believe that Shrillary Shrooooooo (who will be our president by February 2021, since she’ll be Biden’s running mate) ought to be in prison; for China’s Guo An Bu must thank her from the bottoms of their hearts for being more careless with secrets than the lowliest juior officer in the State Department. As for Bill Clinton, Democrat sleaze is always excusable when done in a Deep South drawl–such an American archetype.
But I’m old enough to remember a few things, read Chinese, and have lived on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Nixon knew the Viet Nam was all but lost, and he had to get out. Couple that with a Kissinger who was pretty sure that we’d have to adapt to a Soviet-dominated world. Indeed, it was the Soviet Union’s “moment” from 1975 down to the early 1980’s. Kissinger, admirer of Metternich that he was, reached out to China to find a balance of power.
At the same time, in the 1970’s, kicking Taiwan out of your capital was a safe way to show that you weren’t afraid of the big bad American wolf. The Social Democratic conscience of our European allies also saw the Communist regime as, at heart, progressive. Then, after that, the sycophantic tribute paid to Mao Zedong’s regime by most of the Western media was one of the most shameful things that any beneficiary of press freedom could do.
But I also see the fate of Taiwan as a loud, clear, and unambiguous message to the whole world that the USA is a fickle ally, and will leave you high and dry.
But at this point, I believe we need to take a long, hard look at how COVID leaked out. We need to ask lots of questions why China’s initial response was to silence the doctors and citizen journalists who let out the news in late 2019. We need to keep in mind that China did not want any outsiders looking around. And we need to note that Wuhan is home to China’s bio-warfare labs.
As I’ve said before, I don’t believe China’s wet markets are the problem. I’ve used wet markets in a Taiwan that has as large a human population density as any place on the Mainland. In Thailand and the Mainland, I’ve also strolled through such places, and have even eaten strange things that “turn their back on Heaven”. But I suffered no ill effects from this; nor did I suffer anything from exposure to flyover country Americans who ate squirrels, opossums, and raccoons, or from exposure to Orthodox Jews who kept glatt kosher.
Nor do I see Beijing as an ally against jihad. It is just as nasty to Han Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, and is even suspicious of a few hundred souls exploring or reconnecting with a Jewish past as it is to the Uighur separatists-who lie to themselves that the few Uighur Christians in their midst are remnants of medieval Church of the East work rather than Evangelical heirs of early 20th century ex-Muslims. It is clear by Beijing’s alliances with Iran and Pathologicalstan that it is happy to build bridges to the worst in the Islamic world.
I will also add that I fault Poppy Bush for his weak response to the June 4 massacre. The fact of the matter is that it showed Deng Xiaoping as a Danny DeVito character stripped of all the warmth, pathos, humor, and decent core (a nasty little man).
Wellington says
Sophisticated and knowledgeable analysis, Kepha.
Clifford Fodor says
No one talks about Jimmy Carter. He’s the one who recognized Communist Red China and derecognized Taiwan, not Nixon. I think US presidents do things like that because their domestic policy is so disastrous, that they have to do something different, something new overseas to take everyone’s mind off of their (US presidents) failures.
gravenimage says
Certainly, it was the egregious Carter who formalized this. But it was Nixon who set it in motion.
Chrissie01 says
although China is the world’s champion for violation of human rights, maybe you have the wrong culprit. As possible cause, we have the Wuhan BSL-4 Lab.
https://www.nature.com/news/inside-the-chinese-lab-poised-to-study-world-s-most-dangerous-pathogens-1.21487
The amount -btw- of biological labs all over the world is breathtaking. Please, if you can, do some research. What does mankind need THAT for?
https://www.nature.com/news/inside-the-chinese-lab-poised-to-study-world-s-most-dangerous-pathogens-1.21487
“Many staff from the Wuhan lab have been training at a BSL-4 lab in Lyon, which some scientists find reassuring. And the facility has already carried out a test-run using a low-risk virus.
But worries surround the Chinese lab, too. The SARS virus has escaped from high-level containment facilities in Beijing multiple times, notes Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey. Tim Trevan, founder of CHROME Biosafety and Biosecurity Consulting in Damascus, Maryland, says that an open culture is important to keeping BSL-4 labs safe, and he questions how easy this will be in China, where society emphasizes hierarchy. “Diversity of viewpoint, flat structures where everyone feels free to speak up and openness of information are important,” he says.”
But help is near, dont you worry. The Bill Gates Foundation – main donor of the WHO – has formed an alliance of all major pharma companies to hand out a vaccine to the world’s population in the near future. The Bill Gates Foundation is also donor to the German Robert-Koch-Institute, which is very involved in blowing into the panic fire, and donor to (German) newspapers that do the same…
We will all be glad to have that vaccine, won’t we?
But we should keep in mind to ask very precise questions about its contents, in addition to aluminium and mercury, which will be in there anyway. One time, the foundation launched a vaccination campaign for measles in Kenya, the the pro-bono supplement ws the homrone HCG, pregnancy hormone. It was a population control program with participants not made aware of.
Now, they have ID20 underway. The idea is microchippping citizens to carry their own data, also making them trackable..
Bill Gates really is such a philantropist…
You people stay safe and sane, please…
Aussie Infidel says
NIXON’S LEGACY:
Virtually the same thing happened here in Australia, when the great socialist reformer Gough Whitlam became PM and opened diplomatic and trade discussions with his comrades in the PRC. Whitlam introduced a 25% reduction in tarifs, and as happened in the US, many of our own industries could not compete with the slave labour conditions and cheap commodities in the PRC. Local businesses failed because they were unable to compete with the cheap (and often nasty) imports.
My own business, which was once thriving, also succumbed. We couldn’t obtain supplies locally, and we couldn’t import from China because of the minimum orders required. It is farcical – but not surprising – that a so-called Labor PM like Whitlam had so little understanding of business practices and what would happen to many of the workers he supposedly represented. For all their rhetoric, hard-left socialists don’t give a damn about small business and workers; all they care about is power.
However, the rot started earlier than Nixon. The reason for this disaster had its roots in the Japanese Post-War Reconstruction Program. Those of us who remember that period – as I do – can attest to the fact that most Japanese products then were of poor quality and unreliable. However, in the US, Prof W Edwards Demming had developed a manufacturing philosophy called Total Quality Management (TQM), which sought to gradually improve products, and reduce the cost of manufacture. But when the war was over, it received little attention from American industrialists. However, the Japanese Occupation Force under General MacArthur, asked Demming to use his methods to help improve Japanese products, so that trade between the two countries might resume and be on an even footing. To everyone’s surprise, the results of applying TQM in Japan were so spectacular, that Demming is credited with bringing about the ‘Japanese post-war economic miracle’. Japanese products improved to the point where they out-competed American goods on both price and quality.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming
Unfortunately, America was slow in applying TQM to its own industries, partly because the Japanese Reconstruction Program was embedded within the US Military’s Occupation Force, and most American industrialists were not aware of it. For many years, American industry suffered considerable disadvantage. However, after the introduction of quality management and other inovations such as robotics, American industries made substantial gains, and in many cases eclipsed their Asian competitors. And that’s why for a time, Hondas out-competed Harleys, and Toyotas became more popular than Fords. It was simply a matter of quality and affordability.
But back to the present problem. Calling China a “People’s Republic” is an oxymoron. In this totalitarian communist utopia, no political opposition is allowed, and the election process is a sham. The only people who have any power are the top echelon of the Communist Party. The people are completely disenfranchised, and merely pawns in the game of politics.
Dawne Swift says
Very interesting post – thank you.
Mike says
Usualy , leftists called things the opposite of what they do so to lurred everyone . Look at Soros societies : Anti-Fa ruining free expression everywhere they can , Media Matters killing every media that tells the truth , Open Society working to take down US society etc…It is a kind of Salinski ‘s rules : Blame others of what you do illegaly before they could blame you ( Labeled yourself of qualities and practice the opposite .)Islam should take example on them and call Jihad : Peace Plan for the World.
Mike says
Aussie, understand that your PM had in fact a real understanding of Labor and Business but he was following a secret agenda that you don’t seems to catch up to now . Your PM as Justin T. , Macron , Merkel , T. May , Hussein O. say the most marvelous narrartive in public while in secret doing everything to bring down your country’s economy , your way of living , your culture , your traditions . The plan is to bring your country so low , so divided using racism , sexism , LGBTQ , transgenderism , religion , age that at one time Globalists ( milliardaires banquers ) will take over the planet . Then , they will bann cash money for retracable and easily shut down plastic cards,force vaccines on every one so they get cancer over 20 years,installed cameras everywhere linked to computers for facial recognition in real time etc…Milliardaires bankers want to be a few , 10 to 15 persons, having complete control over the 500 millions peoples left on earth using green movement to move the agenda ahead .Milliardaires bankers , one would taught they are capitalists. No, they are socialists for the peoples but capitalists for themselves only .
Aussie, go out of your house , anywhere in the world and look around what you see. Everything you see is like it is because Globalists want it like that .
If Haïti and Cuba are what they are , it is because Milliardaires Bankers , controling US political parties , presidential campaigns , controls also the tug part of CIA and so the whole world . Cuba and Haiti are what they are because the FED and the Bilderberg decided so.
For example NK was used by CIA as a threat to its neighbours so Deep State could sell defensive weapons to South Korea, Philippines,Japan etc,, and even to USA itself since the poorest state of the world was threatening also Hawaï , California and Alaska . Moreover , since NK neighbours didn’t have the money to buy those weapons , Chase , JP Morgan , Goldman Sach ( the FED ) would print money to loan them , money with no value since it is not base on gold reserve. Game have change but 2 weeks ago and with President Trump and his team . Do you realy think that fat Kim Jong Un at the head of a state where farmers works with horses, donkeys and medieval ploughs is a threat to America ? Can NK invade USA ?
Aussie Infidel says
Mike, I am very well aware of what Whitlam understood about business, his hatred of conservatism, and his involvement with the Fabian Society and other leftist groups. Whitlam was a sarcastic bigot; a lawyer with a socialist mindset and a narcissistic sense of superiority. At the time I was involved in the Labor Party – and had been since the 1950s – and was even on some of their policy committees. I knew many of the Party leaders on a first name basis, but eventually I resigned in disgust at their kowtowing to the Chinese and other socialist groups, corruption within the Party, and the Khemlani loan affair to use Arab oil money to pay our Public Service.
I’m also very much aware of the evils of Islam and globalism; but I hadn’t intended to say anymore, as I thought I already had more than my penny’s worth.
Wellington says
I for one always appreciate your input, Aussie Infidel.
Mike says
It was told , many times , by serious observers , that Republicans burglars in Democrats quarters were , infact looking for the pedophile file Dems have on US politicians .
It is very interesting to know also that Deep Throast , as shown in All President’s Men , is pure Hollywood fiction ( as often it is the case ). Truth is that the man who was second after Edgar Hoover was expecting to be nominated 1st after Edgar’s death . Nixon dare to not follow his desire . So , the man decided that since he couldn’t be FBI director , he would get Nixon’s head .So, he send brrown envelopes to Washington Post journalists, sometimes delivering them himself on Berstein and Woodward desks.Bernstein and Woodward are as much investigation journalists as my cat !!!! Forget Hollywood fiction movie !
Luchtpint says
In a sense, what Nixon did was very much in line with the typical Cold War polarization at the time. The USSR and its cronies were considered the main enemies on all fronts. In that sense, the outreach to the Chinese was a logical consequence of the old adage “the enemy of the enemy is my friend.” China did not form a monolithic communist bloc with the USSR at that point, they were embroiled in territorial disputes.
It became quite obvious that Nixon wanted to find a counterweight to Soviet influence in Vietnam / Laos and Southeast Asia in general by reaching out to Maoism at the time. This also led to consecutive USA governments considering the Cambodian (China-backed) Pol Pot (Maoist) regime the only legitimate government of that country for decades afterwards.
In any case, you can’t bank on Chinese communists to make good on promises, like they promised to leave Taiwan alone when Nixon visited.
barbaracvm1 says
Nixon had Kissinger negotiate with Vietnam for the release of all of the POWs. There was supposed to be a $3 billion retribution fover 10 years. Hanoi released the 591 POWs in the spring of 1973 on good faith , with no payment being made.
Nixon’s Watergate stopped all POW concerns. The remaining 2,500 were left behind alive..
NO PEACE, NO HONOR details the politics between Nixon and Kissinger.
Gerald Ford mentioned this deal in a state of the union address. A republican president with a democrat congress; it was not happening.
FYI Laos wanted a separate deal with the US. Kissinger refused. Laos had about 200 PWS. They did not want to be lumped in with Vietnam. ? ? ? ?
Giacomo Latta says
Seeking closer relations with China than those it had with the USSR? Note a bad move politically, but let them trade with each other: non-existent bumper crops for anything cheap and with no quality. Trade with China in order to turn it into a world power in economics and militarism? Extremely bad move.
rooare says
I read at one time a quote from a Chinese Christian wanting to thank Nixon for opening China to the Gospel of Jesus the Christ so there’s that.
grandpahalfdime says
Well, that isn’t quite factual. Nixon visited China to get them to buy US wheat. Their people were starving and we had an abundance of wheat.
As for the One China thing, that was Jimmy Carter.
Real trade with China didn’t start until Clinton got in office because China’s industry was all government owned and we still didn’t trust them. I grew up watching the “opening” of China to trade. In the 60s and 70s our Asian trade was with Korea & Japan. Japan began outsourcing stuff to China to sell to us and that along with our Hong Kong trade eventually led to trade with China. Carter facilitated that by explaining to China that they needed to be more like Mussolini’s Fascism model, where some industries were owned & operated by private entities under heavy regulation and close scrutiny by the intelligence organization.
The LEFT would love to change that part of history and I’m sure it will change when those of us who lived through it have all died. Until then, don’t believe that Nixon started it.
NAFTA provided the first opening by allowing Chinese goods brought through Mexico & Canada into the US for sale. That mapping was dismantled under GW Bush.
Valkyrie Ziege says
; Nixon gave American manufacturing away to Asia, plus Nixon wanted to become President because he had a list of people he wanted to commit revenge on them.
Nixon was completely emotionally mentally ill.
Don Ameche says
Thank You Robert Spencer….. I have been saying similar to who ever will listen for quite a while now. This is a timely and IMPORTANT article focusing on errors of Gov’t policy that have LOOONG repercussions.
barbaracvm1 says
Why did Nixon make a 180 % change in attitude? Is it possible Kissinger was behind the idea. How did an absolute fight the communists get so friendly, and in such a short time frame.
Naildriver says
Certainly the Chinese communists have found new life in the social media and electronic communications — not the demise to democracy some predicted, but a regular 1984 in one’s face tyranny, and the Chinese mostly love it.
But liars and corrupt power mongers that they are, the Chinese government will eventually see their downfall, but at what cost to the West? Crucial the USA uses this pandemic to to step back a bit from this monster.
It will however be a gift if they eradicate Islam there, before going down.