During Nixon’s visit, Nixon and Zhou Enlai signed an agreement—the Shanghai Communique—in which the US stated that it “acknowledges that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain that there is but one China and that Taiwan is part of China. The United States government does not challenge that position. It reaffirms its interest in a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan question by the Chinese themselves.” Despite those assurances, reunification with Taiwan still remains the most consistently contentious issue between China and the US.
