(4 of 10)
The planning for the Kissinger trip began, in a sense, during the opening weeks of Richard Nixon's presidency. Quietly and methodically, the President started a painstaking reversal of diplomatic signals in an effort to show Peking that the U.S. wanted to normalize relations. He was clearly prepared for this move; as long ago as one year before his election, he had indicated his departure from his earlier anti-Peking stand. In a Foreign Affairs article, he asserted: "Any American policy toward Asia must come urgently to grips with the reality of China." Now, in his overseas trips as President, Nixon made a point of telling national leaders that he wished to open a dialogue with the Chinese. At one time or another, he used the French and the Canadians as intermediaries. Most useful of all was Rumanian President Nicolae Ceausescu, the only Communist chieftain who gets along with both Russia and China.
The Administration made significant changes in its public announcements. In the summer of 1969, Secretary of State Rogers gave a series of speeches in which he urged an easing of tensions with China. For the first time since the Communist takeover of China, a presidential document in 1970 referred to the "People's Republic of China" instead of "Communist" or "Red" China. The President used the phrase again in a toast to President Ceausescu. The Administration sought to make it clear that "we were not bound by previous history." That meant in Indochina too. Perhaps the most crucial message delivered to Peking was that Nixon wanted out of Viet Nam.
Sly Aside
At first China did not respond. But by late 1969, there were clear signs of Chinese interest. For one thing, China agreed to resume the Warsaw talks, which had opened in 1955 to explore avenues toward peaceful coexistence. Even when the U.S. invaded Cambodia, the talks, though suspended, were not cut off. Peking's response was exceptionally restrained, considering its past responses to American military moves. Nor did the invasion of Laos unduly upset the Chinese. By this time, it was the North Vietnamese who were disturbed, reacting with alarm to the mildness shown by their ally. Chou En-lai led a delegation to Hanoi to reassure them.
The pace of change picked up dramatically last April. The American Ping Pong team was invited to Peking; the U.S. relaxed trade barriers on nonstrategic goods. Old China Hand Edgar Snow returned from a trip to Peking with a piece of news that was published in a LIFE article: Chairman Mao wanted a visit by Nixon, who had said in an earlier press conference that he wished to go to China. In a sly aside to Snow, Mao suggested that, for political reasons, Nixon would probably want to come some time after May 1972. Actually, he hopes to go very early next year.