What historical information does the handshake between Zhou Enlai and Nixon reflect? What factors contributed to this handshake?

On February 21, 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon paid a friendly visit to China, which had long been hostile to each other, despite having no diplomatic relations with China. Welcomed by Zhou Enlai at the airport. When their hands were clasped together, Zhou Enlai smiled and said, "You stretched out your hand across the vastest ocean in the world to shake my hand." Sino-US relations began to normalize. Zhou Enlai played a key role that cannot be replaced by anyone. He showed great creativity, flexibility, and excellent diplomatic art in formulating and implementing China's policy towards the United States during this period.

This handshake realized the "historic handshake between the leaders of the two countries across the Pacific" between China and the United States. It marked "the end of one era and the beginning of another." In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the international situation underwent profound changes. At that time, the Soviet Union and the United States were competing for hegemony as the two superpowers. After Nixon became president in 1969, out of strategic considerations to compete with the Soviet Union, he began to gradually adjust his policy toward China. China and the United States gradually moved from confrontation to dialogue. Nixon's visit to China and the issuance of the Sino-US Shanghai Communique started the process of normalization of Sino-US relations, opened the door to relations between the two countries, opened a new page in the history of Sino-US relations, and laid the foundation for the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States and the further development of the two countries in the future. Relationships lay the foundation.