President Nixon landed in Beijing 50 years ago, beginning the opening of relations between communist China and America. The move was heralded both at the time and since as a "master stroke" of diplomacy. Half a century later, though, its legacy looks far less certain. The significance of the trip is undeniable. The United States had severed relations with China in 1949 when the communists under Mao Zedong defeated the Nationalist Party forces of Chiang Kai-Shek, who with the Republic of...
