Full Frame: Nixon’s Trip to China

Full Frame

On February 21, 1972, China’s leader Chairman Mao Zedong and U.S. President Richard Nixon meet to normalize relations.

“The week that changed that world,” that’s what U.S. President Richard Nixon called his historic visit to China in 1972.

Fifty years ago this week, U.S. President Nixon undertook a historic visit to China that would forever reshape the international geopolitical map and lay the groundwork for China’s opening to the world. It ended decades of separation between the two countries.

In this week’s Full Frame, host Mike Walter talks with American diplomat, businessman and writer, Chas Freeman about how this trip became a catalyst for change.

China is currently the largest goods trading partner with the U.S. After Nixon’s historic visit to China fifty years ago, the thaw in relations between the two countries, allowed for many Chinese companies to start operations right here in the U.S.

Washington’s relations with Beijing only seems to be getting worse under the current U.S. administration. Tensions between the two countries grew rapidly under former U.S. President Donald Trump, who limited some Chinese companies from business dealings in the U.S.

So, what will the next 50 years of Washington-Beijing relations look like? Full Frame host, Mike Walter, talks with Max Baucus, a former American ambassador to China.