Shanghai communiqué
The Shanghai Communiqué is a treaty between the United States and China . It was signed by US President Nixon and Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai on February 28, 1972 as part of a trip to China . The communiqué improved relations between the USA and China, which were extremely difficult due to the political situation during the Cold War .
Historical background
The formerly good relations between the Soviet Union and China, which were primarily based on communism , deteriorated from 1953 onwards. After Stalin's death, which was considered a model in China, and the de-Stalinization in the Soviet Union that followed from 1956, differences between the Soviet Union under Khrushchev and China under Mao Zedong became clear. After the former friendly relations between the model communist states were broken off at the end of the 1950s and beginning of the 1960s, a military conflict between the two states on the border rivers Ussuri and Amur broke out in 1969 . From July 1969, a phase of cautious rapprochement between China and the USA began. According to the Nixon Doctrine , officially presented on February 25, 1971 , troops were withdrawn from Southeast Asia to strengthen China's position there. In addition, China took over the seat of the UN Security Council previously held by Taiwan , the state once founded by political refugees from Mao China and now backed by the US, and the US withdrew its fleet from the Formosa Strait. Thanks to this concession on the part of the USA and the discussions of the then security advisor Henry Kissinger , Nixon's trip to China was made possible. This finally made it possible for the Shanghai Communiqué to be signed.
content
In the Shanghai Communiqué, closer cooperation in all areas was decided. Trade between the two great powers benefited in particular, but improvements were also noticeable in the areas of science, sport and culture. In addition, some American experts were sent to China to guarantee stable relations. The big point of controversy between the US and China, the role of Taiwan, was halfway settled by the admission of China to the UN Security Council and the withdrawal of the US fleet. In the form of the anti-hegemonic clause, the Shanghai Communiqué also sent a clear signal to the Soviet Union that China was no longer an ally of the Eastern Bloc. As a result, relations between Moscow and Beijing relaxed again.
Officially, however, the USA and the People's Republic of China did not establish diplomatic relations until January 1, 1979 as a result of the Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations . Until 1978, the US government officially regarded only the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) as the legitimate representative of China.
Individual evidence
- ^ Nixon's China's Visit and "Sino-US Joint Communiqué". Retrieved April 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Diplomacy: Nixon sees China as a counterweight to the Soviet Union . In: The time . March 30, 2011, ISSN 0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed April 8, 2017]).
- ↑ Bernd Stöver: The Cold War - History of a Radical Age . Ed .: CH Beck.
- ↑ Stephen Orlins, The Diplomat: The Shanghai Communique: An American Foreign Policy Success, 45 Years Later . In: The Diplomat . ( thediplomat.com [accessed April 8, 2017]).