Nixon's visit to China and the SALT I détente agreements
- Date
- February & May 1972
- Category
- Politics & governance
- Region
- Global (United States, China, USSR)
- Era
- Contemporary
- Significance
The year 1972 marked the high point of Cold War détente through two breakthroughs in U.S. diplomacy. From 21 to 28 February 1972, President Richard Nixon made an unprecedented visit to the People's Republic of China, meeting Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai.
The visit, capped by the Shanghai Communiqué, began the normalisation of U.S.–Chinese relations after more than two decades of hostility and reshaped the strategic balance by exploiting the Sino-Soviet split. Three months later, on 26 May 1972 in Moscow, Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I), comprising the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and an interim agreement capping strategic offensive arms. Together these moves institutionalised a relaxation of superpower tensions, established the framework for nuclear arms control, and gave Washington diplomatic leverage over both Moscow and Beijing.
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Empires active in February & May 1972
- Soviet Union1922 CE – 1991 CE
- British Empire1583 CE – 1997 CE
- Spanish Empire1492 CE – 1976 CE
- Portuguese Empire1415 CE – 1999 CE
- Solomonic dynasty1270 CE – 1974 CE
- Dutch Empire1581 CE – 1975 CE
Related politics & governance events
- Iranian RevolutionJanuary–February 1979
- Construction of the Berlin Wall13 August 1961
- Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika1985–1991 (from 11 March 1985)
- Fall of the Berlin Wall9 November 1989
- Revolutions of 1989 across Eastern Europe1989 (Autumn of Nations)
- German reunification3 October 1990
Further reading
The wider story
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