Scholar reflects on Ping-Pong Diplomacy as China, US mark 55th anniversary

Ping-Pong Diplomacy was among Richard Nixon's greatest diplomatic achievements, said U.S. scholar Robert Kelly in an interview, as China and the United States mark the 55th anniversary of the table tennis exchange that opened the door to diplomatic relations.

Kelly, an assistant professor at American University, told China Global Television Network (CGTN) that Nixon made re-engaging China a central priority of his presidency, even as public opinion in the United States was skeptical of closer ties.

He said Nixon's determination to shift the discourse on China set the stage for a diplomatic breakthrough.

"One of his (Nixon's) greatest diplomatic achievements was really steering the discourse to be receptive to a restarted relationship with China. He was talking about it in the mid-1960s, and when he became president, it was one of his top priorities. And when he brought Henry Kissinger on [board], he said, 'This is one of my top priorities. We can't have a world in which China is ostracized. A country of that size with so much to offer, we can't just pretend that it doesn't exist. So we've got to find a way to re-engage.' And that set in motion, despite a lot of the public mood not being in favor of it. Again, because rhetoric had not made it very palatable for the American public to go there. That's why Kissinger had to pursue these things in secret in the summer of 1971 to create the ripe moment for Nixon to come in February 1972," Kelly said.

In April 1971, nine players from the U.S. Table Tennis team took a historic trip to China, becoming the first delegation of Americans to visit China in decades. Their trip helped lay the groundwork for the establishment of official diplomatic relations between China and the United States.

Later that year, then-U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger secretly visited Beijing in July, paving the way for a groundbreaking 1972 meeting in Beijing between Nixon and China's late Chairman Mao Zedong.

On Feb 28, 1972, as Nixon's visit drew to an end, the historic Shanghai Communique was issued, becoming the political foundation for normalizing China-U.S. relations.

The two countries officially established diplomatic relations in 1979.

Scholar reflects on Ping-Pong Diplomacy as China, US mark 55th anniversary

Cheng Li-wun, chairperson of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party, expressed gratitude to Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, for his goodwill, and urged all political parties in Taiwan to work together for peace.

She made the remarks at a press conference in Beijing on Friday after meeting Xi.

"I sincerely hope that all political parties in Taiwan shall give up their differences and work together for peace when it comes to cross-Strait relations. General Secretary Xi also showed this significant goodwill just now. Such exchanges certainly will not be confined to exchanges between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. I believe such a broad vision and open-mindedness are something the Chinese Kuomintang is very pleased to see. We are not here today for the selfish interests of a single party. We are here today because we have our historical responsibility, and because we cannot allow Taiwan or the Taiwan Strait to fall into a battlefield. So we are taking the lead. Now that we have begun to blaze the trail, and it will only become ever smoother and broader going forward," Cheng said.

Invited by the CPC Central Committee and Xi, Cheng is the first KMT chairperson to have led a delegation to the Chinese mainland in a decade. The delegation, on a six-day visit, had visited Jiangsu Province and Shanghai before coming to Beijing.

KMT chairperson expresses appreciation for Xi's goodwill, urges peace