I will give a five-minute presentation on three Sino-U.S communiqués next Tuesday. The following is what I know about this subject.
The United States had not recognized the People’s Republic of China since communist government was established in 1949. The Korean War in 1950 worsened the bilateral ties as they fought against each other on the battlefield on the Korean peninsular. The war was ended in 1953， bur the hope for normalizing the Sino-U.S relation was more remote. While the United States worked to prevented PRC from taking China’s seat from the United Nations and placed an embargo on trading with PRC, People’s Republic of China had allied itself with the Soviet Union for trade and defense, and it also developed nuclear weapons in 1964.
However, the PLA and Soviet Union army clashed on the borders in 1969. It became an important concern for the PRC to improve the relations between the two major powers. As for the U.S, it was suffered from plight both home and abroad, especially the Vietnam War. Some Americans thought that better relations with PRC would help them deal with this difficult problem.
Communications were ongoing between the two country’s top leaders through the intermediaries Pakistan and Romania. In 1971, a young American Ping Pong Player who had missed his U.S team bus was waved by a Chinese player onto the Chinese team bus at the WTTC in Japan, which later was known as Ping Pong Diplomacy. It had an impact on Chairman Mao’s decision making.
In 1972, U.S President Nixon traveled to Beijing, Hangzhou, and Shanghai, at the conclusion of his trip, China and U.S issued the Shanghai Communiqué, a statement of their respective foreign policy views.