Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said that today’s geopolitics needs “Nexon-style flexibility” to resolve conflicts between the United States and China, Russia and other countries, and the Biden administration cannot endlessly contend with China.
Kissinger said on Tuesday (19th) that U.S. President Biden should beware of domestic politics interfering with U.S. understanding of China, “Biden and previous administrations are too influenced by domestic views, of course, it is important to prevent China or any other country for hegemony.”
“This is not something that can be achieved through endless confrontation,” Kissinger said. He has previously said that increasingly hostile U.S.-China relations might trigger a global catastrophe on the scale of World War I.
Former U.S. President Richard Nixon, who fought as a die-hard anti-communist in the 1960s, decided to engage with China, surprising his supporters with a visit to Beijing in 1972 that became a historic turning point in U.S.-China relations.
On February 21, 1972, at the invitation of the then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, Nixon, accompanied by Ji Xinji, flew to Shanghai Airport for a one-week visit to China.
Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit the People’s Republic of China and held talks with then Chinese leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. The United States and China issued the “Shanghai Communiqué” on the 28th of the same month, kicking off the normalization of relations between the two countries.
Nixon’s visit to China is still considered “the week that changed the world,” especially ending the hostile relationship between the two countries since 1949. Under the Cold War situation at that time, Nixon sought common ground while shelving differences, put aside disputes, and sought dialogue with China to change the international situation.