United States presidential visits to China

President Richard Nixon meets with Mao Zedong in Beijing, February 21, 1972. This was the first visit by an incumbent president to mainland China.

There have been eleven U.S. presidential visits to China, by seven presidents, since 1972. The relationship between the United States and China, one in which each nation regards each other as a potential adversary as well as a strategic partner, has been described by world leaders and academicians as the world's most important bilateral relationship of the century.[1][2] As of 2014, the United States has the world's largest economy and China the second largest. The International Monetary Fund estimates that China's economy has overtaken that of United States in terms of GDP (PPP) in 2014 but the United States' economy will remain larger than China's in nominal GDP until the end of the 2010s.[3]

Table of presidential visits

Dates President Location(s) Purpose
February 21-28, 1972 Richard Nixon Shanghai, Peking (now known in English as Beijing), Hangchow State Visit. Met with Party Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai.[4]
December 1-5, 1975 Gerald Ford Peking Official Visit. Met with Party Chairman Mao Zedong and Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping.[5]
April 26-May 1, 1984 Ronald Reagan Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai State Visit. Met with President Li Xiannian and Premier Zhao Ziyang.[6]
February 25-27, 1989 George H. W. Bush Beijing Met with President Yang Shangkun and Premier Li Peng. Also met with Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.[7]
June 24-July 3, 1998 Bill Clinton Xi'an, Beijing, Shanghai, Guilin, Hong Kong State Visit. Met with President Jiang Zemin. Visited the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China; also delivered a speech at Peking University.[8]
October 18-21, 2001 George W. Bush Shanghai Attended the APEC Summit Meeting.[9]
February 21-22, 2002 Beijing Met with President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji.[9]
November 20-21, 2005 Beijing Met with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.[9]
August 7-11, 2008 Beijing Attended the 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. Met with President Hu Jintao and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.[9]
November 15-18, 2009 Barack Obama Shanghai, Beijing Part of a four-nation tour of Asia. Met with Shanghai Party Secretary Yu Zhengsheng and Mayor Han Zheng; also took part in a town hall meeting with Shanghai students. Met with President Hu Jintao, NPC Chairman Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao. Visited the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China.[10]
November 10-12, 2014 Beijing Attended the APEC Summit Meeting. Met with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and NPC Chairman Zhang Dejiang.[11]

Additionally, in 1878 Ulysses S. Grant visited Hong Kong, Canton (now Guangzhou), Shanghai, and Peking, where he spoke with the head of government, Prince Gong, and Li Hongzhang, a leading general, during a world tour after leaving the presidency.[12] Also, before becoming president, Herbert Hoover briefly lived in China (in 1899) while working as chief engineer for the Chinese Bureau of Mines, and as general manager for the Chinese Engineering and Mining Corporation.[13] Hoover and his wife Lou learned Mandarin Chinese while living there.[14]

Taiwan

Following the communist victory over the Nationalist-led government of the Republic of China in 1949, Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China. The Nationalists were driven from the Chinese mainland onto Taiwan and several outlying islands. The United States did not formally recognize the People's Republic of China for 30 years after its founding. Instead, the US maintained diplomatic relations with the Republic of China government on Taiwan, recognizing it as the sole legitimate government of China.[15][16] President Dwight D. Eisenhower made a state visit to Taiwan on June 18-19, 1960. He met with President Chiang Kai-shek in the capital city, Taipei.[17]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Clinton seeks stronger Asia ties". BBC News. February 16, 2009. Retrieved April 7, 2010.
  2. ↑ "USC US-China Institute: Ambassador Clark Randt on "The Crucial Relationship"". China.usc.edu. Retrieved December 2, 2010.
  3. ↑ "World Economic Outlook". International Monetary Fund. International Monetary Fund. Retrieved October 12, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Travels of President Richard M. Nixon". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04.
  5. ↑ "Travels of President Gerald R. Ford". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04.
  6. ↑ "Travels of President Ronald Reagan". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04.
  7. ↑ "Travels of President George H. W. Bush". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04.
  8. ↑ "Travels of President William J. Clinton". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Travels of President George W. Bush". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04.
  10. ↑ "Travels of President Barack Obama". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
  11. ↑ "The President’s Trip to China, Burma and Australia". White House Office. November 2014. Archived from the original on 2015-11-08.
  12. ↑ Brands, H. W. (2012). The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses S. Grant in War and Peace. Doubleday. pp. 591–592. ISBN 978-0385532419.
  13. ↑ 31st President, Herbert Clark Hoover. Presidentialpetmuseum.com (1964-10-20). Retrieved on 2013-07-14.
  14. ↑ Burner, David (1996). Herbert Hoover: A Public Life. Easton Press. p. 32. ISBN 978-0945707370.
  15. ↑ "The Chinese People Have Stood Up! 1949". China.usc.edu.
  16. ↑ Sheng v. Rogers, District of Columbia Circuit Court, 1959-10-06
  17. ↑ "Travels of President Dwight D. Eisenhower". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04.
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