Interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 6

Interview - Essay Example The US had to react to this visit because Nixon’s stance against Communism was not a secret, while China was, not only a Communist country, but practiced an extreme form of communism no different from Stalinism. Moreover, Americans were perplexed at President Nixon’s decision, as his anti-Communist rhetoric had gotten him elected in 1952 as Vice President (Ragone & Velshi 13). With this background in mind, this interview will seek to uncover the machinations behind the visit and its consequences. A. As president of the United States, Richard Nixon travelled to the Communist People’s Republic of China in 1972. There he met both the Central Committee of the Communist Party’s Chairman Mao Zedong and the premier of the PRC Zhou En-Lai. The two governments agreed on the Chinese Communiquà © during the visit, which was one of the most important agreements between the two countries in improving relations following years of mistrust and hostility (Ragone & Velshi 33). A. Well, you have to realize that the two countries had been estranged diplomatically since the 1940s and the Chinese Communist Revolution. Following Chairman Mao Zedong’s victory for the Communists in 1949 and the establishment of the PRC on the mainland of China, officials and soldiers of the vanquished Republic of China moved to Taiwan. Relationships soured totally when the US chose to recognize the ROC over the PRC as China’s legitimate government, leading to a complete break in diplomatic relations (Ragone & Velshi 34). A. You see, despite the obvious lack of diplomatic channels, there were all indications by the late 60s that the PRC and the US were considering rapprochement. The escalation of the Vietnam War with the Soviet-backed Viet Cong and the US-backed KMT led officials in the US government to improve relations with China. This was important in the new US strategy to decrease