Only Nixon could go to China

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The English proverbs “Only Nixon could go to China” ( “ Only Nixon could visit China”) and “It took Nixon to go to China” ( “It took Nixon to visit China”) as well as metaphors like “XY in China” allude to Richard Nixon's visit to China in 1972 . They come from the political language of the United States and refer to the view that veteran hardliners or former opponents of political reforms can credibly embody major changes in diplomatic attitudes.

According to this, only Nixon, a well-known anti-communist, was able to negotiate credibly with the Chinese regime and improve diplomatic relations without being suspected of having false sympathies.

Metaphorical use

The political metaphor is applied in a figurative sense to the important role played by hardliners in possible peace and reform negotiations and in taboo or so-called power rail issues. You are also able to break through hardened positions in your own environment.

The phrase came up as early as the late 1970s. Democratic Congressman Tom Foley became famous in 1977 when he said, "You need a Nixon to go to China, and you may need a Democrat to balance the budget."

Use in German-speaking countries

In connection with the controversial reforms such as foreign policy innovations by the Schröder government ( Schröder II cabinet ), the Nixon goes to China effect was also attested in German politics. According to this, the implementation of a controversial innovation is especially easy for those who are least trusted.

Use in film and musical theater

Nixon in China wasthematizedin 1987 in the form of an opera in three acts by John Adams with a libretto by Alice Goodman .

A cinematic use comes from the 1991 movie Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Land . There "Only Nixon could go to China " is quoted by Spock as an "old Vulcan proverb".

Individual evidence

  1. ^ For example Moisés Naím: Berlusconi Goes to China How Italy's prime minister can remake his image - and revolutionize Italian industries in the process. In: Foreign Policy , September 1, 2003.
  2. ↑ Martin Tolchin: Carter Says Priority is Balanced Budget. In the New York Times on May 3, 1977
  3. ↑ Christoph Egle, Reimut Zohlnhöfer (Ed.): End of the red-green project: a balance sheet of the Schröder government 2002-2005. VS Verlag, 2007, ISBN 3531148753 , p. 147.