Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Trump’s China trapeze act shows why India can’t trust summit headlines

The next time a foreign dignitary visits us, we should be prepared to spell out our apprehensions candidly, and hand over the bitter truths, of course coated with chocolate.

US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing was quite different from Richard Nixon’s landmark China visit more than half a century ago.

In 1972, Nixon undertook a seven-day visit to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and met Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and Zhou Enlai, the PRC Premier. The meeting came after two and a half decades of hostile relations since China’s establishment was announced in 1949. During this visit, the two governments negotiated the Shanghai Communiqué, an important step toward improving relations between the United States and the PRC.

Several preparatory initiatives had taken place before this visit, including meetings between Gen Yahya Khan of Pakistan and Chinese leaders to help broker a thaw between the US and China. There were also two secret trips by Henry Kissinger, then Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, and two table tennis matches between US-China teams, earning Nixon’s visit the moniker of “ping-pong” diplomacy.

Incidentally, this visit was preceded by two very significant and historic events. One was the India-Pakistan conflict of 1971 that liberated Bangladesh. The other was the People’s Republic of China becoming a member of the UN as P5, resulting in the dismissal of the Republic of China (ROC)— that is, Taiwan— from UN membership.

Fifty-four years later, on May 13-15 2026, President Donald........

© ThePrint