David Rockefeller in Beijing: The Informal Diplomacy of the Trilateral Commission in "the Long 1970s"

TY - CHAP

T1 - David Rockefeller in Beijing

T2 - The Informal Diplomacy of the Trilateral Commission in "the Long 1970s"

AU - Knudsen, Dino

PY - 2016/1/1

Y1 - 2016/1/1

N2 - In May 1981, a small group of foreigners, headed by David Rockefeller, visited Beijing to participate in a three-day conference with the Chinese leadership.1 The event was unusual. In late 1978, after almost 30 years of hostility, China (the People’s Republic of China/PRC) and the US had just begun to normalize their diplomatic relations. Despite the fact that the conference addressed the relationship between China, the US and various other countries, and included high-ranking representatives from the Chinese Communist party and government, the visitors were not official envoys of their respective governments. On the contrary, they constituted a private group organized ad hoc by the Trilateral Commission, an organization of elites within politics, economy and academia from North America, Western Europe and Japan. In the People’s Great Hall, which had earlier been the scene of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping himself welcomed the trilateral elites headed by the latest representative of America’s most archetypical capitalist dynasty, David Rockefeller.2 They discussed the opportunities and constraints of economic cooperation between China and the trilateral countries and a wide range of related topics.

AB - In May 1981, a small group of foreigners, headed by David Rockefeller, visited Beijing to participate in a three-day conference with the Chinese leadership.1 The event was unusual. In late 1978, after almost 30 years of hostility, China (the People’s Republic of China/PRC) and the US had just begun to normalize their diplomatic relations. Despite the fact that the conference addressed the relationship between China, the US and various other countries, and included high-ranking representatives from the Chinese Communist party and government, the visitors were not official envoys of their respective governments. On the contrary, they constituted a private group organized ad hoc by the Trilateral Commission, an organization of elites within politics, economy and academia from North America, Western Europe and Japan. In the People’s Great Hall, which had earlier been the scene of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping himself welcomed the trilateral elites headed by the latest representative of America’s most archetypical capitalist dynasty, David Rockefeller.2 They discussed the opportunities and constraints of economic cooperation between China and the trilateral countries and a wide range of related topics.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - network

KW - China

KW - elites

KW - Diplomacy

M3 - Book chapter

SN - 9781472459404

SP - 221

EP - 238

BT - The 'Long 1970s': Human Rights, East-West Détente and Transnational Relations

A2 - Villaume, Paul

A2 - Mariager, Rasmus

A2 - Porsdam, Helle

PB - Routledge

ER -