Notes for World History
DETENTE: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS FROM 1970s TO 1990s [3]
China and the USA
- China and US had been extremely hostile towards each other since the Korean War and seemed to remain so while the Americans backed Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists in Taiwan, and while Chinese backed Ho Chi Minh.
- However, in 1971, China invited an American table tennis team to visit China.
- Following the success of that visit, the USA responded by calling off their veto of Chinese entry into the UN.
- President Nixon visited China in 1972 which led to resumption of diplomatic relations.
- Relations improved further when US decided to withdraw recognition of Nationalist China (Taiwan).
- The climax of détente came in 1979 when US gave formal recognition of the People’s Republic of China.
- Tensions arose again in 1989 during Tiananmen Square student demonstration in China, and in 1996 when China protested Taiwan democratic elections.
