Editor's note: Yuan Sha is an assistant research fellow in the Department of American Studies at the China Institute of International Studies. A former Fulbright scholar at Columbia University, she has a PhD in international politics from China Foreign Affairs University. Yuan has published several papers on China-U.S. security relations in Chinese academic journals and regularly contributes to Chinese media outlets. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the China-U.S. Joint Communique of 1972, which is also known as the Shanghai Communique. Together with the China-U.S. Joint Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations (January 1, 1979) and the China-U.S. Joint Communique on United States Arms Sales to Taiwan (August 17, 1982), it makes up the "Three Joint Communiques" that laid the political foundation for bilateral relations.

50 years on, as the world enters a crucial stage of growing uncertainty, the best way to commemorate the anniversary is to draw wisdom from this history and shed new light on the current bilateral relations and the world at large.

'The week that changed the world'

On February 28, 1972, China and the U.S. issued the Shanghai Communique during President Richard Nixon's ice-breaking visit to China, which set a milestone in the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The historic document was a hard-earned achievement by visionary strategists like Chairman Mao Zedong, Premier Zhou Enlai, as well as President Nixon and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger. Coming out of two decades of animosity since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the two sides demonstrated outstanding political courage and strategic wisdom by choosing rationality and pragmatism over irrationality and ideology. The world was uplifted and inspired to see that erstwhile rivals with different political systems and cultural backgrounds could shed old grievances and appreciate each other's core interests and concerns.

The bedrock of the Three Joint Communiques is the one-China principle, which is that the two sides affirm there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China. The one-China principle, together with the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence – namely mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence – established the framework within which the bilateral relations could further develop.

Dubbed by Nixon as the "week that changed the world," the China trip and the Shanghai Communique paved the way for the five-decade engagement between the two countries and unleashed the great potential of vibrant economic and people-to-people relations. More importantly, it is widely acclaimed as a historical move that precipitated the end of the protracted Vietnam War and the Cold War, ushering in a new era of peace and development.

Beware of backtracking on history

The spirit of the three communiques represents the correct direction of historical progress where both countries stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation. China has been consistently abiding by the joint communiques. Unfortunately, there is a dangerous tendency on the part of the U.S. to turn back on its commitments.

Viewing a stronger and more prosperous China, the U.S. hawks are increasingly vocal in denouncing the long-held engagement policy and trying to reverse the Nixon legacy by shifting to a "strategic competition" with China. Since the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump, Washington has ramped up efforts to suppress China on multiple fronts, by causing military tensions in the South China Sea, waging a trade war, initiating technological decoupling and putting restrictions on people-to-people exchanges.

More ominously, the U.S. has taken steps to encroach on the one-China principle, the very basis of the bilateral relations, by passing a series of Taiwan-related legislation, ramping up arms sales to Taiwan authorities and stepping up military maneuver across the Taiwan Straits. Viewed as an "unsinkable aircraft-carrier" along the "first island chain," a key link in the global semiconductor supply chain, and the "front line in the democracy vs. authoritarian rivalry," the U.S. has a renewed interest to turn the Taiwan region into a pawn in its "Indo-Pacific strategy" which is aimed at containing China.

These actions are an attempt to backtrack on history. Not only are they a betrayal of the joint communiques, but also a violation of international relations norms and a revisionism towards international order.

'Seize the day, seize the hour'

When meeting Chairman Mao in Beijing in 1972, Nixon quoted a poem by the Chinese leader. "So many deeds cry out to be done, and always urgently. The world rolls on. Time presses. Ten thousand years are too long. Seize the day, seize the hour!"

As Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed that "history is a fair judge" during their virtual summit last November, in the face of profound changes unseen in a century, it is rewarding for China and the U.S. to draw wisdom from our predecessors and carry forward the spirit of the Shanghai Communique.

It is up to our two countries to transcend ideological differences, discard the Cold War mentality, and find ways to coexist peacefully.

Specifically, the two sides need to resolve differences in a rational manner, and avoid miscalculations and conflicts. The two sides also need to widen areas of common interests to deliver real benefits to their people. More importantly, as permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, the two countries have a joint responsibility to safeguard a peaceful and stable international environment, and find solutions to global challenges such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.

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