In February 1972, U.S. president Nixon visits China and meets with Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong. The visit culminates in the signing of the first U.S.-PRC Joint Communiqué (also known as the Shanghai Communiqué) on February 28. China reaffirms its position that the PRC government is the sole legitimate government of China and that Taiwan is "a province of China." The United States "acknowledges that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain that there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China" and "reaffirms its interest in the peaceful settlement of Taiwan question by the Chinese themselves." The communiqué is carefully written to preserve U.S. ambiguity on the ultimate sovereign status of Taiwan.

1st Joint Communiqué of the United States of America and the People's Republic of China