community as official recognition by the United States of the People's Republic of China as the sole legitimate Chinese government; that de jure recognition was to come several years later. However, the trip clearly evidenced the United States' desire to normalize relations between the two nations, with the Joint Communiqu issued at the end of the trip laying the ground work for future Sino-American interactions.As expressed in that Communiqu, issued in Shanghai on February 27, 1972, both nations affirmed that:progress toward the normalization of relations between China and the United States is in the interests of all countries;both wish to reduce the danger of international military conflict;neither should seek hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region… The Chinese re-affirmed that they were "…the sole legal government of China…" and that the liberation of Taiwan was an internal matter to be determined by China alone, and that the resolution of the Taiwan question was crucial to normalized Sino-American relations. For its part, the United States acknowledged that "…there is but one China…" with Taiwan being part of China, that the Chinese should peacefully resolve the issue themselves, and finally, towards that end, the United State's ultimate objective is withdrawal of all U.S. forces and military installations on Taiwan. With the seed of normalization rooted in the 1972 talks, formal recognition between the People's Republic of China and the United States, with its concomitant "derecognition" of Taiwan as the official government of China, occurred on January 1, 1979, via a joint communiqu establishing diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the People's Republic of China. Included in the language of the communiqu however, is the sentiment, expressed by the United States, that within the context of recognizing the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China, the United States would...
