Mao Zedong arrived in Moscow in 1949 expecting to be feted for delivering China, the world’s most populous country, to Communism. Instead, Joseph Stalin humiliated him by making him wait for a meeting.
Although Stalin and Mao eventually signed a Treaty of Friendship, Mao chafed at being treated like a hayseed from a backward country. By the 1960s, Mao was openly feuding with the Soviets over leadership of the Communist world. The Soviet Union and China even battled each other in 1969 over disputed territory along their long border.
That created an opening for Richard Nixon’s trip to China on Feb. 21, 1972, a diplomatic overture aimed at peeling China away from the Soviet orbit.
In the short term, Nixon’s eight-day visit was an unambiguous success. Chinese leaders agreed to help spy on the Soviet Union. Nixon won re-election. The stage was set for China’s eventual integration into the global economy.
But as we mark the 50th…
