Editing Zhou Enlai (section)

===The Shanghai communique===
{{Main|1972 Nixon visit to China}}
[[File:Kissinger Mao.jpg|thumb|250px|Zhou, shown here with [[Henry Kissinger]] and [[Mao Zedong]].]]
[[File:Nixon shakes hands with Chou En-lai.jpg|thumb|250px|Zhou shakes hands with President [[Richard Nixon]] upon Nixon's arrival in China in February 1972.]]
By the early 1970s, [[China–United States relations|Sino-American relations]] had begun to improve. Mao's workers in the petroleum industry, one of China's few growing economic sectors at the time, advized the chairman that, in order to consider growth at levels desired by the Party's leadership, large imports of American technology and technical expertise were essential. In January 1970, the Chinese invited the American ping-pong team to tour China, initiating an era of "[[ping-pong diplomacy]]".<ref name="Trade1">Spence 597</ref>

In 1971, Zhou Enlai met secretly with President Nixon's security advisor, [[Henry Kissinger]], who had flown to China to prepare for a meeting between [[Richard Nixon]] and Mao Zedong. During the course of these meetings, the United States agreed to allow the transfer of American money to China (presumably from relatives in the United States), to allow American-owned ships to conduct trade with China (under foreign flags), and to allow Chinese exports into the United States for the first time since the [[Korean War]]. At the time, these negotiations were considered so sensitive that they were concealed from the American public, the State Department, the American secretary of state, and all foreign governments.<ref name="Trade1" />

On the morning of 21 February 1972, Richard Nixon arrived in Beijing, where he was greeted by Zhou, and later met with Mao Zedong. The diplomatic substance of Nixon's visit was resolved on 28 February, in the [[Shanghai Communique]], which summarized both sides' positions without attempting to resolve them. The "US side" reaffirmed the American position that America's involvement in the ongoing [[Vietnam War]] did not constitute "outside intervention" in Vietnam's affairs, and restated its commitment to "individual freedom", and pledged continued support for South Korea. The "Chinese Side" stated that "wherever there is oppression, there is resistance", that "all foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries", and that Korea should be unified according to the demands of [[North Korea]]. Both sides agreed to disagree on the status of Taiwan. The closing sections of the Shanghai Communique encouraged further diplomatic, cultural, economic, journalistic, and scientific exchanges, and endorsed both sides' intentions to work towards "the relaxation of tensions in Asia and the world." The resolutions of the Shanghai Communique represented a major policy shift for both the United States and China.<ref>Spence 599–600</ref>