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In 1976, Nixon , who was deeply involved in the Watergate incident, received a second invitation from Chairman Mao to visit China.
This meeting can be said to be a joy for the host and guests. Before leaving, Nixon curiously asked Chairman Mao what his specialties were.
Chairman Mao smiled and a simple answer made Nixon bend over to pay tribute.
What kind of storm did Nixon encounter? Why did Chairman Mao invite him at this time? What exactly did Chairman Mao answer?
Watergate storm, Nixon stepped down
On the banks of the Potomac River in the United States, there is a world-renowned building, " Watergate Building ", the biggest scandal in the history of the United States, the "Watergate Incident", which happened here.
In 1972, Nixon's presidency was about to end. In order to investigate the news of his opponent and defeat his opponent successfully re-election, he arranged for people to install eavesdropping devices in Watergate Building.
There is no doubt that this move is a coexistence of benefits and risks, and unfortunately, Nixon's plan was exposed.
On the evening of June 17, 1972, a Democratic American staff member left Watergate Building after get off work and turned around and unexpectedly found that lights and shadows were shaking in the office with the lights turned off.
His first reaction at that time was that he had been thieves, so he immediately returned and found the security guard and asked to search the office. This search for
found five "suspicious characters" wearing gloves, and the leader was Nixon's subordinate James McCord. On the second day of
, this incident caused an uproar online, and Nixon was forced to end his vacation early and return to discuss emergency measures.
At the beginning, Nixon was preparing to push this matter to others, and repeatedly emphasized in public that "there are no members of the White House in this matter."
But just when Nixon thought he could take the matter away, the US court received several anonymous letters revealing the inside story of the Watergate incident. What's even more fatal is that the arrested James failed to withstand the pressure and recruited White House legal counsel Dean.
The only way at this time is to let Dean take over all the crimes, so that Nixon and others have a chance.
However, this matter is extremely bad and the legal sentencing is very heavy. It was once rumored that Dean would be sentenced to 40 years in prison.
At the critical moment, in order to protect himself, Dean decisively called Nixon out and wanted to atone for his sins, but this move was like putting Nixon on the fire.
had no choice but to come forward to admit the matter, but he emphasized that this move was for national security, not his original creation. It was a convention as early as the era of Roosevelt .
Whether the eavesdropping is a tradition inherited by the United States or not, the people do not intend to let this go.
So soon, people broke the news that Nixon had installed eavesdropping devices in his office since 1971.
The court hoped that Nixon could hand over the tape, but Nixon refused to cooperate and even demanded the removal of Cox, the special prosecutor in charge of investigating the matter.
People's patience with Nixon reached its peak, the case was handed over to the Department of Justice, and the House of Representatives is also preparing to impeach the president. There was no way to do so. On the evening of August 8, 1974, Nixon delivered a television speech to the whole country and resigned from his presidency in public. He became the first president in American history to resign. After resigning from
, Nixon felt lonely, but at this moment, what he didn't expect was that Chairman Mao actually invited him to visit China for the second time. What's going on?
The intention of inviting Nixon for the second time
More than two months after Nixon resigned, he was hospitalized due to phlebitis. Unexpectedly, he unexpectedly received a call from Chairman Mao himself. During the phone call, Chairman Mao comforted Nixon and expressed his full recognition of him, and welcomed him to come to China at any time.
Nixon felt warm, but at that time he probably thought Chairman Mao was just polite.
But in mid-August 1975, he actually received an urgent invitation from Chairman Mao again,
"If your physical condition allows, I hope to meet you as soon as possible."
Chairman Mao's sincerity touched Nixon, and he finally decided to visit China for a second time.
But he had just stepped down at that time. If he visited China immediately, it would inevitably cause unnecessary trouble, so he waited for a while.
With the mediation of Kissinger, Nixon came to China again shortly after Ford's visit to China at the end of 1975.
Compared with then President Ford, former President Nixon was warmerly welcomed, and the reason was simple. His attitude towards China was much more friendly than Ford.
When Nixon visited China in 1972, Sino-US relations had already had a sign of breaking the ice.
However, after Ford came to power, the development of Sino-US relations was quite slow and the direction was very "ambiguous". The hug between Ford and Soviet leader Bergzhnev is the best proof.
On the evening of February 21, 1976, Nixon arrived in Beijing on a special plane, and Hua Guofeng and others went to welcome him in person.
Although Nixon was no longer the president at this time, Chairman Mao still arranged for him to stay at the State Guesthouse No. 18, just like the visit 4 years ago. The other arrangements in
are roughly the same, even the 10 dishes at the state banquet are exactly the same as they were back then.
Nixon was once again deeply moved, which also strengthened his determination to build a new Sino-US relationship.
In fact, Nixon's visit to China this time faces considerable risks. Ford and others actually do not want Nixon to visit China during this period.
After all, the four-year term change has arrived again, and Nixon accepts China's invitation at this time, which is inevitably a bit special.
However, at that time, Nixon could only be regarded as a "very influential civilian". Ford and others were not able to restrict his freedom, so they could only suppress their dissatisfaction and let Nixon do it.
Similarly, this meeting also attracted global attention. Many newspapers began to report this news when China sent invitations to Nixon.
When Nixon took a special plane to China, it can be said that he gathered the attention of the whole world.
People want to know what impact Nixon's visit to China will have and where Sino-US relations will go, and these issues are very likely to be resolved in this meeting.
Facts prove that this speculation is correct. Nixon's second visit to China completely opened the door to establishing diplomatic relations between China and the United States.
Details of visiting China and asking questions
On the second day after the state banquet, Nixon visited Chairman Mao.
According to Nixon's later recollection, although Chairman Mao's physical condition was not very good at that time, Chairman Mao's thinking was still very clear. He could understand all Nixon's words and had the idea of communicating. At the end of the conversation between
, Nixon asked Chairman Mao a question,
"What do you think you have?"
After hearing this question, Chairman Mao began to answer without hesitation. Nixon and the translator tried their best to listen, and finally realized that Chairman Mao was talking about five words,
"Serve the people!"
Chairman Mao always cared about the mission of serving the people, which is truly admirable.
Nixon was also impressed by Chairman Mao's tenacious spirit and bent down to express his respect on the spot.
When he was about to leave, Chairman Mao stood up with the help of his assistant, and then pushed the secretary away and said goodbye to Nixon.
This reminded Nixon of what Chairman Mao looked like when he visited China for the first time.
Chairman Mao was also sick at that time. When Nixon arrived, he specially arranged a meeting in the bedroom.
When he first learned about the meeting place, Nixon was still very unhappy and felt that he was being despised.
But Kissinger told him,
"Don't think the specifications are low, because Chairman Mao is a very simple person."
was reminded by Kissinger, and Nixon indeed recalled that Chairman Mao had patches on his clothes.
Such a simple leader is quite rare worldwide. Because of this, Chairman Mao exudes a different charm, which makes Nixon particularly respectful.
After a second visit to China, Nixon did not leave immediately. Instead, he promoted the normalization of Sino-US relations with others.
February 29, 1976, in Guangzhou, Guilin, China Nixon, who visited the places and left on a special plane.
In less than a week, 14 experts on China gathered in Ohio, USA. Their task was also very simple, that is, to study the significance of Nixon's visit to China.
They expressed high recognition of Nixon's behavior. Wilson, editor-in-chief of the University of London, UK, said,
"We believe that when the future world recalls Nixon, the first thing that comes to mind is dialogue work, not the Watergate incident. "
This also means that in the United States, like Nixon, there are many people who want to normalize Sino-US relations.
After all, peace and development are the mainstream of the world today. The benefits brought by the closer US and China are far greater than disregarding or blocking.
The US presidential campaign in 1976 also proved this. Before the
election, everyone thought Ford would win with a big advantage, but he eventually lost dramatically to the Democratic candidate Carter .
Later, when analysed, many people believed that this had a lot to do with Nixon's visit to China.
Nixon's second visit to China made people realize the problem of Ford's attitude towards China.
Perhaps because of this, the new president Carter came to power, fully realized the importance of Sino-US relations, changed Ford's previous policy toward China, and embarked on the road toward China.
It can be seen that Chairman Mao's invitation to Nixon to visit China for the second time is definitely a masterpiece in diplomatic history.
On December 16, 1978, China and the United States finally issued the "Communiqué for the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations", which can be regarded as a perfect end to Nixon's visit to China .
Nixon's touch
talked about China and the United States Nixon is definitely a "members" that cannot be avoided.
But now looking back, we can't help but wonder why Nixon suddenly chose to visit China in 1972?
There are many reasons in this, and it can be roughly viewed from the three perspectives of China, the United States and the Soviet Union.
first talks about China. Although China in the 1970s had just experienced the US blockade and the withdrawal of the Soviet Union, it can be said that everything is in trouble in economic development, but we have made great progress in military progress.
Not to mention anything else, just two bombs and one satellite is enough to make China stand in the world. The United States clearly saw China's strength growth, so it chose to change its attitude.
Let's talk about the Soviet Union, the United States in the 1970s The Soviet relations are unprecedentedly tense, and the rapid development of the Soviet Union made the United States feel threatened.
China's position at this time was very subtle, because our country is adjacent to the Soviet Union. If the United States can win us over, it will be very conducive to the United States' competition for hegemony.
So, even if it cannot completely win over China, the United States also wants to improve relations with China. Nixon chose to visit China because he saw this clearly.
The last thing to talk about is the United States itself. Although this country is determined to compete for hegemony and has many ambitious people, there are also many developers with advanced vision. The most typical example of
is Kissinger mentioned above. He realized that future peace and development are the mainstream, and China's alliance is more conducive to the development of the United States, so he has been vigorously promoting the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States.
Before Nixon officially visited China in 1972, Kissinger had been to China several times. The reason why Nixon was touched and chose to visit China was also a very important reason.
In addition to thanking Kissinger, we should also thank those ancestors who worked hard to build the country.
It is precisely because of their efforts and sacrifice that the New China can gradually achieve great recovery, stand tall among the nations of the world, and gain the respect of all countries in the world.
There was Dayu who controlled floods in ancient times. He passed by his house three times but did not enter. Now there is Huang Xuhua, the father of China's nuclear submarine. In order to break the blockade of other countries, he studied hard for 30 years and hid his name and did not go home.
Huang Xuhua is great, and among our ancestors, there are not a few who are as great as him.
that year, Deng Jiaxian In order to achieve a breakthrough in "nuclearity", he led 105 scientists to join the Gobi Desert without hesitation.
Since research on nuclear bombs is top secret, they keep it secret from their families, and even their closest parents or the people next to them cannot reveal anything.
Deng Jiaxian said this before leaving his wife,
"I want to transfer my job, but I can't say where to go, type of work, and mailbox number."
"I don't know if I can come back, but if this matter can be done, it's worth my death."
The great spirit is always the same and is very contagious, which makes people feel admiration unconsciously.
Deng Jiaxian's courage to dedicate himself and sacrifice the small for the big; Chairman Mao's sacrifice of his life and death and dedicated himself to serving the people is the same.
Not to mention Nixon whom I saw with my own eyes, even we who heard about it later were deeply moved by it?
is moved, but we should inherit the will of our ancestors and forge ahead, so that our ancestors' thoughts and spirit will continue to carry forward, and make China more and more prosperous.
