China, Nixon, and capitalism

Father Orthoduck can remember how surprised he was when then President Richard Nixon made his historic trip to the People’s Republic of China in February of 1972. At that time, Father Orthoduck was in the Army and the Viet Nam conflict was still going on. The surprise in the USA was phenomenal, since Nixon had been chosen as President Eisenhower’s running mate in 1952 precisely because of his very strong anti-communist sentiments. In fact, Nixon was often in accord with Sen. McCarthy back then and was seen as proof that Eisenhower would not go easy on the communists.

In doing this, Father Orthoduck is cognizant that President Nixon also threw the Republic of China (Taiwan) into the garbage heap. He agreed that there was only one China, thus sidestepping the problem of the “other” China. By 1979, under President Carter, the USA withdrew its diplomatic recognition of Taiwan and the United Nations gave its seat to the People’s Republic. Father Orthoduck still considers the withdrawal of recognition from Taiwan as one of the more shameful acts in USA history. Having said that, it is also true that it was a bit ridiculous to have the “China” seat on the Security Council of the United Nations be held by an island off the coast of China. The Republic of China (Taiwan) bears some blame in this in that it continued to insist that it was the only legitimate government of all of China over 20 years after it had ceased to govern China. In a later interview, Nixon said:

This was the week that changed the world, as what we have said in that Communique is not nearly as important as what we will do in the years ahead to build a bridge across 16,000 miles and 22 years of hostilities which have divided us in the past. And what we have said today is that we shall build that bridge.

In 1982, President Reagan reversed course a bit and provided some assurances to The Republic of China (Taiwan). The ten years between President Nixon and President Reagan had been hard on Taiwan on the world stage. It was fortunate that–at that time–it was Taiwan that was the economic powerhouse and not Beijing (ok how many remember that the name of the city used to be spelled “Peiking” until the 1980’s). It was only by flexing its economic muscle that Taiwan was able to keep from being pushed completely from the world stage. Frankly, we tend to conveniently forget that the People’s Republic of China was expecting to be able to take over the island and was putting extreme pressure on members of the world community to stop trading with the Republic of China (Taiwan). This was because so many countries wanted access to mainland Chinese markets.

In 1982, the People’s Republic of China threatened to severely downgrade its relationship with the USA if we did not stop arm sales to The Republic of China (Taiwan). Then General Alexander Haig actually recommended that we agree and that we leave Taiwan hanging even more. We did sign a communique that our levels of arm sales to Taiwan would not exceed the then current levels. But, though President Reagan was willing to sign the communique, he was quite aware of how this could be seen as giving permission for a takeover of Taiwan. Thus, he took two actions. He had a secret memorandum placed in the files of the National Security Council–which most believe that he also made privately very clear to The People’s Republic of China–which read in part:

The U.S. willingness to reduce its arms sales to Taiwan is conditioned absolutely upon the continued commitment of China to the peaceful solution of Taiwan-PRC differences. It should be clearly understood that the linkage between these two matters is a permanent imperative of U.S. foreign policy. In addition, it is essential that the quantity and quality of the arms provided Taiwan be conditioned entirely on the threat posed by the PRC. Both in quantitative and qualitative terms, Taiwan’s defense capability relative to that of the PRC will be maintained.

He also had his representative in Taiwan, James Lilley, deliver an oral assurance to then President of China (Taiwan) Chiang Ching-kuo. The assurance had six points. They became known as the Six Assurances. Mr. Lilley assured Mr. Chiang that the USA:

• Had not agreed to set a date for ending arms sales to the Republic of China;
• Had not agreed to hold prior consultations with the PRC regarding arms sales to the Republic of China;
• Would not play a mediation role between the PRC and the Republic of China;
• Would not revise the Taiwan Relations Act;
• Had not altered its position regarding sovereignty over Taiwan; and
• Would not exert pressure on the Republic of China to enter into negotiations with the PRC.

Since President Reagan, that has continued to be the USA stance. President Reagan issued two additional strong assurances that made it clear that Taiwan would not be abandoned and basically told The People’s Republic of China that they could take it or leave it. However, interestingly enough, both Presidents Clinton and Bush (W) issued statements that appeared to violate USA law (The Taiwan Relations Act) by implying that Taiwan could be excluded from certain international boards. Father Orthoduck leaves it to the scholars to decide whether this is so or not.

So, to go back to the beginning of this post, what was President Nixon trying to accomplish, and what has been its effects on us?

===MORE TO COME===