The Nikkei View50 years after Nixon-Mao handshake, Asia preps for new world order
Battle for preeminence disrupts U.S.-China collaboration, with consequences for all
Chinese leader Mao Zedong and U.S. President Richard Nixon greet each other in Beijing in February 1972. Asia has undergone huge geopolitical shifts in the intervening 50 years. © AP
February 23, 2022 13:01 JST
When U.S. President Richard Nixon visited China half a century ago, it transformed the post-World War II international order in one stroke. Amid a standoff between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, the two superpowers of the time, Washington and Beijing chose to collaborate to counter Moscow.