Rekindling memories of Nixon's 1972 visit

Grandson of former president to follow exact route of historic diplomatic event

Forty-one years after former US president Richard Nixon's landmark visit to China, the two sides are seeking to improve bilateral ties, which are facing "another turning point", as a 40-member delegation from the United States retrace the trip's legacy.

"China has become a strong economy. I think the legacy of the trip will endure, and I've seen that through my travels throughout the world," said Christopher Nixon Cox, the son of the 37th US president's daughter, Tricia, on Friday.

"He always said we should never leave a billion of the world's most hard-working people in isolation," Cox said. "His philosophy was that a strong and prosperous China would be a pillar for the peace and stability of the world."

Cox, the head of the delegation, was born in 1979, the year that Sino-US diplomatic relations were established. After arriving in Beijing on Thursday, he is leading a 10-day "Nixon Centennial Legacy Journey" tour to the same venues in Beijing, Hangzhou and Shanghai that Nixon and his entourage visited in 1972.

Nixon's visit that ended 25 years of mutual silence, paved the way for the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between China and the US. The tour is also being regarded as a tribute to Nixon a century after his birth in 1913.

It was not easy for Beijing and Washington, with vastly different mindsets and economic strengths, to break the ice and the countries' current leaderships should learn from their predecessors how to properly address their differences. The shared interests of China and the US are much larger than before, said Jia Qingguo, a professor at Peking University's School of International Studies.

Kathleen McFarland, a delegation member and former member of the Nixon administration, said the visit marked "an unusual and unique thing in the history of diplomacy".

After a generation of silence, the two countries "who probably had least in common and who knew the least about each other", were able to "see the world through each other's eyes" but it was "not eye to eye, because we disagreed on so many things, and we still do", she said.

It is important today that the two countries that engineered an unprecedented development are now "at another turning point" and nobody can achieve success through confrontation with a rising power, she added.

Zhou Wenzhong, former ambassador to the US, said mutual trust and differences in bilateral relations have coexisted during the past four decades, while Washington needs to be crystal clear where the country's interests are and how will it regards China; "a partner, a competitor or a enemy?"

The key is whether Beijing and Washington can properly handle their differences and expand their common interests, said Zhou. "Despite the ups and downs, Sino-US relations have been, and will continue, heading forward as that is in the fundamental interests of the two countries."

China, acknowledged as a great power 40 years after Nixon's visit, is also stepping forward to play an important role in solving global problems facing both the US and China, including environmental protection and cyber security, said Robert McFarlane, who dealt with intelligence exchanges with China from 1973 to 1976.

Now, the US and China must focus on solving these issues through cooperation to avoid conflict and maintain stability and peace, he added.

Liu Yedan contributed to this story.