Nixon’s China Game Movie Review Paper

Nixon’s China Game Review
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Nixon’s China Game Review
Nixon's China Game is a documentary about former US president Richard Nixon's seven-day visit to China in 1972. There had been many years of diplomatic isolation between the United States and mainland China. The visit intended to restore normalcy in diplomacy and relations. The visit was a strategic overture that ended the 25 years of no communication between the US and China. The ultimate motivation for President Nixon and the chairman of the PRC MaoZedong was to normalize their ties and relations. They both wished and were willing to set aside the ideologies that had been a pain point for over two decades since Communism had come to power and focus on common interests.
However, the visit was cleverly planned by the US to have massive media coverage for Nixon to go on record as having conducted the meeting ‘in the week that changed the world.’ It was, after all, an election year. He wanted a television spectacularly advertising his triumph! The visit was also meant for Nixon to gain leverage over relations with the Soviet Union that happened later in 1979. On the other hand, Mao had been of ill health before the meeting; he wanted nothing but cordial relations. Albeit through short and precise words, he managed to outline the exact expectations that China had. Maowanted advanced aircraft and defense technology, and he needed a strong partner to join him in his conflicts with the Soviet Union and India. He was particularly interested in Americans placing advanced nuclear weapons on Chinese soil, hoping that he would restore some of China's international prominence.
The news of Nixon's visit blew a storm both in America and China. That, to start with, was the first challenge. The visit was a risky affair. There were those in Nixon's administration who though him deluded to think that a one-week meeting would end two decades worth of feud. On the other hand, China was facing some hostility from Taiwan. The latter claimed that the meeting with the United States delegation would disintegrate their diplomacy and that ending the communist regime would result in chaos. There were scanty details about the visit and meeting except within the very innermost circles of both governments' administrators, and that alone raised anxiety levels.
Additionally, despite the planning done before sending a delegation beforehand, Nixon did not know if he would meet Mao. That would have crumbled all the plans he ha...