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Feb. 21 to 28, 1972
Richard Nixon visits China

From Feb. 21 to 28, 1972, then U.S. President Richard Nixon visited China, the first leader ever to visit from a country that had not yet established diplomatic relations with China. Mao Zedong held historic and significant talks with Nixon. On Feb. 27, China and the U.S. issued their first joint communiqué — also known as the "Shanghai Communiqué" — in which both nations pledged to work towards the full normalization of diplomatic relations. It represented the end of an old era and the beginning of a new one in China-U.S. relations.