https://www.scmp.com/rss/511887/feed In February 1972, US president Richard Nixon defied conventional foreign policy wisdom when he arrived in Beijing for meetings with Chinese leader Mao Zedong. In recognition of the trip’s historical significance, the South China Morning Post is running a multimedia series exploring interesting points of the past 50 years in US-China relations. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Lanxin Xiang Lanxin Xiang Convergence theory has long been a Western fantasy in conquering the world with liberal democratic values. It proposes that societies, especially as they industrialise, tend to become more alike in various aspects of social organisation, including work, class structure, family patterns and culture. However, convergence theory oversimplifies the complexities of social change and ignores the unique cultural and historical contexts of different societies. It does not adequately account for power... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3326764/trump-era-could-herald-end-ideology-us-china-relations?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3326764/trump-era-could-herald-end-ideology-us-china-relations?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 28 Sep 2025 01:30:09 +0000 In this latest interview in the Open Questions series, Charles “Chas” Freeman assesses the history of China-US relations and where they might go from here amid their “adversarial antagonism” stage and as the US presidential election looms. Freeman interpreted for then-president Richard Nixon during his historic 1972 Beijing trip to meet Mao Zedong. He has served in the US Foreign Service and state and defence departments and was US ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Gulf war. This... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3275817/chas-freeman-mao-next-kissinger-and-why-now-not-cold-war?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3275817/chas-freeman-mao-next-kissinger-and-why-now-not-cold-war?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 Aug 2024 22:00:25 +0000 In this latest interview in the Open Questions series, Charles “Chas” Freeman, who was an interpreter during President Nixon’s historic 1972 visit to meet Mao Zedong in China, reflects on the impact of China’s leaders from Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping and the deterioration of US-China ties to what he terms as “adversarial antagonism”. Freeman served as US ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Gulf war, and his American embassy posts include Bangkok and Beijing. He is currently a visiting... https://www.scmp.com/plus/article/3275431/former-nixon-interpreter-sees-unhealthy-us-china-ties-decries-gaza-war?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/plus/article/3275431/former-nixon-interpreter-sees-unhealthy-us-china-ties-decries-gaza-war?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 Aug 2024 06:40:53 +0000 Fifty years ago this month, Richard Nixon resigned as US president. With all eyes on November’s presidential election, the anniversary provides an occasion to consider the inherent contradictions of American political leadership. Nixon’s abuses of executive power contrasted sharply with his foreign policy achievements. As an avowed anti-communist, he surprised the world by going to China in 1972. Nixon’s triangulation strategy effectively isolated the former Soviet Union, ultimately helping to... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3275132/kamala-harris-could-be-next-richard-nixon-us-china-relations?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3275132/kamala-harris-could-be-next-richard-nixon-us-china-relations?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Aug 2024 06:30:09 +0000 President Xi Jinping has conveyed his condolences on the passing of former US top diplomat Henry Kissinger, marking the highest level of tribute from China for its “old friend”. Kissinger, who was secretary of state during the height of the Cold War and played a pivotal role in shaping Sino-American relations, died on Wednesday at his home in Connecticut. He was 100. In a message to US President Joe Biden, Xi expressed deep sorrow over Kissinger’s death and sincere condolences to his family on... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3243315/henry-kissinger-giant-diplomacy-remembered-unwavering-commitment-china-us-ties?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3243315/henry-kissinger-giant-diplomacy-remembered-unwavering-commitment-china-us-ties?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Nov 2023 04:14:22 +0000 China has passed a new law to combat rampant telecoms and online fraud, giving enforcement agencies the power to pursue suspects abroad and mandating telecoms companies and banks to help hunt down scammers. The Anti-Telecom and Online Fraud Law, which will take effect in December, was passed on Friday by China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee. The law will be applicable both within and outside Chinese territory, according to state news agency... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3191195/china-passes-new-law-tackle-growing-telecoms-and-online-fraud?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3191195/china-passes-new-law-tackle-growing-telecoms-and-online-fraud?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Sep 2022 14:21:04 +0000 As the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party prepare to gather in the seaside resort of Beidaihe for their annual summer summit, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went ahead with her controversial visit to Taiwan, leaving on Wednesday. With a strong likelihood that the Democrats will lose their House majority in November’s midterm elections, Pelosi is taking one last trip to the region. It is possible she hopes it will allow her to remain as Speaker. The Speaker of the House does not have authority... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3187571/us-stokes-geopolitical-flames-pelosis-taiwan-visit-china-must-be?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3187571/us-stokes-geopolitical-flames-pelosis-taiwan-visit-china-must-be?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Aug 2022 22:45:24 +0000 The day war broke out in Ukraine, we sat for dinner with the Chinese ambassador to the United States to celebrate the 50th anniversary of then-US president Richard Nixon’s historic journey for peace and the cultural legacies of the American and Chinese people. The coincidence borne by fate, or yuanfen, of the dinner celebrating the “week that changed the world” was apparent. The Shanghai Communique of 1972 made clear that the US and China would oppose efforts by the Soviet Union or any other... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3174788/world-awaits-chinas-decision-how-handle-its-russian-grey-rhino?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3174788/world-awaits-chinas-decision-how-handle-its-russian-grey-rhino?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Apr 2022 17:30:24 +0000 In February 1972, US president Richard Nixon defied conventional foreign policy wisdom when he arrived in Beijing for meetings with Chinese leader Mao Zedong. In recognition of the trip’s historical significance, the South China Morning Post is running a multimedia series exploring interesting points of the past 50 years in US-China relations. After the United States formally switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to mainland China in 1979, the cast-off island had to strike out on its own.... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3173163/fifty-years-later-despite-us-pivot-taiwan-has-done-well?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3173163/fifty-years-later-despite-us-pivot-taiwan-has-done-well?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Apr 2022 15:00:30 +0000 In February 1972, US president Richard Nixon defied conventional foreign policy wisdom when he arrived in Beijing for meetings with Chinese leader Mao Zedong. In recognition of the trip’s historical significance, the South China Morning Post is running a multimedia series exploring the impact of that moment. Here, Lawrence Chung looks at the view from Taiwan. The handshake between then US president Richard Nixon and chairman Mao Zedong half a century ago was hailed at the time as a historic... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3172286/nixon-and-mao-handshake-turned-taiwan-towards-new-future?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3172286/nixon-and-mao-handshake-turned-taiwan-towards-new-future?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Mar 2022 00:00:26 +0000 In February 1972, US president Richard Nixon defied conventional foreign policy wisdom when he arrived in Beijing for meetings with Chinese leader Mao Zedong. In recognition of the trip’s historical significance, the South China Morning Post is running a multimedia series exploring interesting points of the past 50 years in US-China relations. It could have been a different sport. Another cultural event. A different time. The shaggy-haired American might not have taken a risk. And his gracious,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3172125/when-nixon-met-mao-ping-pong-tables-charted-path-negotiating-tables?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3172125/when-nixon-met-mao-ping-pong-tables-charted-path-negotiating-tables?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Mar 2022 14:30:21 +0000 https://www.scmp.com/economy/article/3169491/does-richard-nixons-historic-visit-china-still-carry-weight?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/article/3169491/does-richard-nixons-historic-visit-china-still-carry-weight?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Mar 2022 12:00:00 +0000 In February 1972, US president Richard Nixon defied conventional foreign policy wisdom when he arrived in Beijing for meetings with Chinese leader Mao Zedong. In recognition of the trip’s historical significance, the South China Morning Post is running a multimedia series exploring interesting points of the past 50 years in US-China relations. Our fourth piece, by Mark Magnier, looks at the role played by China’s secret diplomatic weapon: the panda. In 1972, Beijing made one of the worst deals... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3169088/50-years-panda-diplomacy-softest-power-meets-hard-reality-us-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3169088/50-years-panda-diplomacy-softest-power-meets-hard-reality-us-china?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Mar 2022 03:00:24 +0000 https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3169046/video-winston-lord-then-special-assistant-kissinger-recalls-nixons?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3169046/video-winston-lord-then-special-assistant-kissinger-recalls-nixons?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 Mar 2022 04:59:09 +0000 Fifty years ago last week, President Nixon made a landmark visit to Beijing that thawed tensions with China and reshaped the geopolitics of the Cold War. After the Sino-Soviet split of the 1960s had effectively turned a bipolar world order into a “tripolarity”, Nixon’s trip and the rapprochement it symbolised substantially altered the balance of power in the triangle of China-Soviet-US relations. The “strategic triangle” was the dominant frame through which geopolitics was understood at the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3168667/alarm-over-china-russia-axis-revives-unwanted-cold-war-mentality?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3168667/alarm-over-china-russia-axis-revives-unwanted-cold-war-mentality?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Feb 2022 17:30:19 +0000 The crisis in Ukraine cast a shadow over Chinese efforts to mark the 50th anniversary of an important milestone in its relationship with the United States as a former American official warned that ties would worsen if Beijing maintains its current position. “Fifty years ago, the USSR was a common threat that brought us together. Today, Russian aggression threatens to drive us further apart,” former US treasury secretary Jacob Lew said in an online speech to an event to mark the signing of the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3168717/china-us-relations-beijing-warned-ties-will-worsen-further?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3168717/china-us-relations-beijing-warned-ties-will-worsen-further?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Feb 2022 15:00:25 +0000 In February 1972, US president Richard Nixon defied conventional foreign policy wisdom when he arrived in Beijing for meetings with Chinese leader Mao Zedong. In recognition of the trip’s historical significance, the South China Morning Post is running a multimedia series exploring interesting points of the past 50 years in US-China relations. In the third piece in the series, Shi Jiangtao looks at the lasting implications of a document negotiated by top diplomats Henry Kissinger and Zhou... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3168440/nixons-historic-trip-china-how-landmark-shanghai-communique?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3168440/nixons-historic-trip-china-how-landmark-shanghai-communique?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Feb 2022 10:00:14 +0000 Fifty years ago, Mao Zedong and Richard Nixon showed their understanding of the importance of pragmatism when they met for a summit in Beijing that was a defining moment in modern history. The visit was televised internationally, the idea of an avowed opponent of communism meeting the leader of the largest communist nation inconceivable in the depths of the Cold War. Decades of animosity between two of the world’s most influential nations was set aside and a process of establishing relations... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/3168535/just-50-years-ago-sino-us-ties-rest-leaders-wisdom?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/3168535/just-50-years-ago-sino-us-ties-rest-leaders-wisdom?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Feb 2022 13:30:26 +0000 In February 1972, US president Richard Nixon defied conventional foreign policy wisdom when he arrived in Beijing for meetings with Chinese leader Mao Zedong. In recognition of the trip’s historical significance, the South China Morning Post is running a multimedia series exploring interesting points of the past 50 years in US-China relations. This second piece in the series, by Owen Churchill, explores the perspectives of Winston Lord, the veteran diplomat who was in the room for that historic... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3167751/winston-lord-room-mao-and-nixon-examines-us-china-relations?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3167751/winston-lord-room-mao-and-nixon-examines-us-china-relations?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Feb 2022 14:35:23 +0000 With China currently the only country capable of unseating America as the leading global power, many in Washington may wish that US president Richard Nixon had never made his historic trip to China 50 years ago this month. In their revisionist narrative, it was Nixon’s meeting with Communist Party of China chairman Mao Zedong, and the policy of engagement it initiated, that helped make China an economic superpower and a geopolitical threat to America. For these critics, the Nixon visit, far from... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3167507/nixon-was-right-gamble-china-despite-what-many-washington-think?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3167507/nixon-was-right-gamble-china-despite-what-many-washington-think?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Feb 2022 17:30:16 +0000 https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/series/3166490/50-years-nixon-visited-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/series/3166490/50-years-nixon-visited-china?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Feb 2022 23:41:48 +0000 In February 1972, US president Richard Nixon defied conventional foreign policy wisdom when he arrived in Beijing for a series of meetings with Chinese leader Mao Zedong, who also took a significant risk in hosting the American president. In recognition of the historical importance of the trip, the South China Morning Post is running a multimedia series that will explore some of the most interesting points of the past 50 years in US-China relations. Our first piece, by Robert Delaney and Kinling... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3166862/when-nixon-met-mao-50-years-later-reverberations-are-still?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3166862/when-nixon-met-mao-50-years-later-reverberations-are-still?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Feb 2022 14:00:22 +0000