[Politics] 'It was destiny': How Jimmy Carter embraced China and changed history

[Dexter.]

 

On a bright January morning in 1979, then US president Jimmy Carter greeted a historic guest in Washington: Deng Xiaoping, the man who unlocked China's economy.

The first leader of Communist China to visit the United States, Deng had arrived the previous evening, to light snow and a welcome by the US vice-president, the secretary of state and their spouses.

It was the start of a diplomatic relationship that would forever change the world, setting the stage for China's economic ascent - and later, its rivalry with the US.

Establishing formal ties with China was among Carter's more remarkable legacies, during a turbulent presidency that ended with one term.

Born on 1 October, the same date as the founding of the People's Republic of China, "he liked to say it was destiny that brought him and China together", said Yawei Liu, a close friend of Carter's.

Even after leaving office, he painstakingly cultivated a close bond with the Chinese people - but that was affected as ties between Washington and Beijing cooled.

Yet he remains one of a small group of US statesmen cherished by Beijing for helping to bring Communist China out of isolation in the 1970s.

Beijing has expressed its condolences, calling Carter the "driving force" behind the 1979 agreement. But the Chinese internet has gone much further, referring to him as "Meirenzong" or the "benevolent American", giving him a title that was once reserved for emperors.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn446nmjp1vo