Cold War Part 15 of 24: China (1948-1972)

April 15th, 2009 • Related • Filed Under

Cold War Part 15 of 24: China (1948-1972)
In July 1971, President Nixon’s National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger secretly visited Beijing during a trip to Pakistan, and laid the groundwork for Nixon’s visit to China. Almost as soon as the American president arrived in the Chinese capital he was summoned for a meeting with Chairman Mao who, unknown to the Americans, had been ill nine days earlier but was at that point feeling strong enough to meet Nixon.

Cold War (TV series)

Cold War is a twenty-four episode television documentary series about the Cold War (1945–1989). Jeremy Isaacs produced the 1998 program in a style similar to his previous series, The World at War (1973). Businessman Ted Turner created the series as a joint production between the Turner Broadcasting System and the BBC, originally broadcast on CNN in the U.S. and the BBC Two in the U.K.. It was narrated by Kenneth Branagh. It featured interviews with leading political figures and people who witnessed and lived through the conflict. The completeCold War series was released on VHS in the U.S. and the U.K., but has not been reissued.

Cold War episodes

The twenty-four episodes are:

  1. Cold War Part 1 of 24: Comrades (1917-1945)
  2. Cold War Part 2 of 24: Iron Curtain (1945-1947)
  3. Cold War Part 3 of 24: Marshall Plan (1947-1952)
  4. Cold War Part 4 of 24: Berlin 1948-1949
  5. Cold War Part 5 of 24: Korea (1949-1953)
  6. Cold War Part 6 of 24: Reds (1947-1953)
  7. Cold War Part 7 of 24: After Stalin (1953-1956)
  8. Cold War Part 8 of 24: Sputnik (1949-1961)
  9. Cold War Part 9 of 24: The Berlin Wall (1958-1963)
  10. Cold War Part 10 of 24: Cuba (1959-1962)
  11. Cold War Part 11 of 24: Vietnam (1954-1968)
  12. Cold War Part 12 of 24: M.A.D. (1960-1972)
  13. Cold War Part 13 of 24: Make Love Not War (1960’s)
  14. Cold War Part 14 of 24: Red Spring (1960’s)
  15. Cold War Part 15 of 24: China (1948-1972)
  16. Cold War Part 16 of 24: Detente (1969-1975)
  17. Cold War Part 17 of 24: Good Guys Bad Guys (1967-1978)
  18. Cold War Part 18 of 24: Backyard (1954-1990)
  19. Cold War Part 19 of 24: Freeze (1977-1981)
  20. Cold War Part 20 of 24: Soldiers of God (1975 of 1988)
  21. Cold War Part 21 of 24: Spies (1945-1990)
  22. Cold War Part 22 of 24: Star Wars (1981-1988)
  23. Cold War Part 23 of 24: The Wall Comes Down (1989)
  24. Cold War Part 24 of 24: Conclusions (1989-1991)

Declassified footage

The Cold War documentary series was first broadcast in 1998 and released in VHS videocassette. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the George W. Bush administration re-classified as “secret” many already declassified documents and much film — specifically documents and film that might compromise American military operations occurring in Afghanistan in November 2001 — incidentally the month when Cold War officially went out of VHS print, with only few warehouse stock copies remaining for retail sale until the middle of 2002.

Episodes number 19, “Freeze”, and number 20, “Soldiers of God”, contain film evidence of the United States — per Cold War policy — the Afghan mujahideen with weapons and military aid via the intermediary Pakistani ISI. The episodes feature mujahideen leaders and soldiers and Afghan citizens telling of life under Soviet occupation, and shows Muslim soldiers demonstrating how they fought and defeated the Soviet Army in the mountains and deserts of Afghanistan.

Episode 20, “Soldiers of God”, shows Zbigniew Brzezinski in 1980, giving a speech to the mullahs and mujahideen fighters between the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan encouraging the Muslim mujahideen fighters through his Pakistani translator saying “We know of their deep belief in God and we are confident that their struggle will succeed. That land over there is yours. You will go back to it one day, because your fight will prevail and you’ll have your homes and your mosques back again, because your cause is right and God is on your side.” — while assuring them of unconditional American government support; and interviewed State Department officials confirming that the United States uncritically supported the Pakistani government for the sake of American interests in Afghanistan.

External links

 

1972 Nixon visit to China

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Nixon in China.
 

Richard Nixon meets with Mao Zedong in 1972.

U.S. President Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to the People’s Republic of China was an important step in formally normalizing relations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. It marked the first time a U.S. president had visited the PRC, who at that time considered the U.S. one of its staunchest foes. The visit has become a metaphor for an unexpected or uncharacteristic action by a politician.

Meeting

In July 1971, President Nixon’s National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger secretly visited Beijing during a trip to Pakistan, and laid the groundwork for Nixon’s visit to China. Almost as soon as the American president arrived in the Chinese capital he was summoned for a meeting with Chairman Mao who, unknown to the Americans, had been ill nine days earlier but was at that point feeling strong enough to meet Nixon. Secretary of State William P. Rogers was excluded from this meeting and the only other American present was National Security Council staffer (and later U.S. Ambassador to China) Winston Lord. To avoid embarrassing Rogers, Lord was cropped out of all the official photographs of the meeting.[1]

 

Richard Nixon and Zhou Enlaispeaking at a banquet

Improved relations with the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China are often cited as the most successful diplomatic achievements of Nixon’s presidency.[2] After World War II, Americans saw the relations between the United States and the Soviet Union deteriorating, the Russians forced communist puppet states over much of Eastern Europe, and China was on the edge of going communist. Many Americans were upset that communists might try to cause the downfall of schools or labor unions. One of the main reasons Richard Nixon became the 1952 Vice-president candidate on the Eisenhower ticket was his strong anti-communism. Despite this, in 1972 Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit China.[3]

 

Pat Nixon in the People’s Republic of China

From February 21 to February 28, 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon traveled to Beijing, Hangzhou andShanghai. Nixon held many meetings with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai during the trip, which included visits to theGreat Wall, Hangzhou, and Shanghai. At the conclusion of his trip, the United States and the PRC Governments issued the Shanghai Communiqué, a statement of their foreign policy views and a document that was to prove to remain the basis of Sino-American bilateral relations for many years. Kissinger stated that the U.S. also intends to pull all its forces out of the island of Taiwan.[4] In the communiqué, both nations pledged to work toward the full normalization of diplomatic relations. The U.S. acknowledged the notion that all Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait maintain that there is only one China. Nixon and the U.S. government reaffirmed their interests in a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan question agreed by the Chinese themselves. The statement enabled the U.S. and PRC to temporarily set aside the “crucial question obstructing the normalization of relations”[5] concerning the political status of Taiwan and to open trade and other contacts. However, the United States continued to maintain official relations with the government of the Republic of China in Taiwan until 1979 when the U.S. broke off relations with the Republic of China and established full diplomatic relations with the P.R.C.

Richard Nixon wrote many books about his international interventions. Beyond Peace is the last of his post-career volumes, addressing the need for the United States to beat the competition in a world transformed by the collapse of the Communist bloc.

Max Frankel of The New York Times received the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for his coverage of the event. The visit inspired John Adams‘ 1987 opera Nixon in China.

Results

After Nixon’s visit he spoke about what this meant for the two countries in the future:

“This was the week that changed the world, as what we have said in that Communique is not nearly as important as what we will do in the years ahead to build a bridge across 16,000 miles and 22 years of hostilities which have divided us in the past. And what we have said today is that we shall build that bridge.”[6]

References

  1. ^ Kissinger Years of Upheaval p. 65
  2. ^ Joan Hoff. Nixon reconsidered (New York, NY: BasicBooks, 1994) : 182.
  3. ^ Stephen E. Ambrose. Nixon, the triumph of a politician 1962-1972 (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1989): 439.
  4. ^ http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1972/1972-Election/12305688736666-2/#title ”Nixon Goes to China”
  5. ^ Nixon’s China’s Visit and “Sino-U.S. Joint Communiqué”
  6. ^ http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1972/1972-Election/12305688736666-2/#title ”Nixon Goes to China”

Further reading

  • Burr, William (1999) The Kissinger Transcripts, New Press
  • MacMillan, Margaret (2007) Nixon & Mao: The Week that Changed the World, Random House
  • Mann, James (1999)About Face, Knopf
  • Nixon, Richard (1978) RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap
  • Tyler, Patrick (1999) A Great Wall, Public Affairs
  • Dallek, Robert (2007). Nixon and Kissinger : partners in power. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0060722304.
  • Drew, Elizabeth (2007). Richard M. Nixon. New York: Times Books. ISBN 0805069631.
  • Kadaré, Ismail (1989) The Concert

See also

External links

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