This week's summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing underscores how far US-China relations have shifted since Richard Nixon’s landmark 1972 meeting with Mao Zedong, when Cold War pragmatism drew two rivals together against a common Soviet threat – a stark contrast to today’s climate of mistrust.
Issued on: 13/05/2026 - 22:46
Modified: 14/05/2026 - 14:24
The 1972 meeting between Nixon and Mao marked a turning point, when China, then in the middle of the Cultural Revolution, courted its arch-enemy Washington out of fear of the Soviet Union.
"China had always regarded the United States as the great enemy. But by 1971-72, they were beginning to get more and more concerned about the Soviet Union... There was a feeling in Beijing that China might actually be attacked," said Michael Dillon of King’s College London’s Lau China Institute.
