Former US president Jimmy Carter passed away on December 29, 2024, at the age of 100. Carter served as president from 1977-1981 and is responsible for the most important event in China’s rise as a modern superpower, the resumption of normal diplomatic relations between the United States and China in 1979. Jimmy Carter officially recognized the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on January 1st, 1979, after several months of secret negotiations. The ramifications of this decision continue to be felt around the world to this day as China’s influence grows.
Taiwan Marginalized
As part of the deal with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the U.S. was required to officially sever ties with the Republic of China (ROC), also known as Taiwan. This is something China demands of any nation that desires to maintain official diplomatic relations with them: they must first sever official ties with Taiwan. It's one or the other. China will not allow both. Jimmy Carter acknowledged the difficulty surrounding this decision in an interview many years later: “Taiwan definitely was the biggest challenge we faced throughout the negotiations.” However, that did not keep him from making the controversial change, angering many in the U.S. at that time.
Congress pushed back a few months later and partially paved a way around the new rules in April of 1979, passing the Taiwan Relations Act, which gave the island nearly the same functional status as any other nation. Although the law no longer allowed the U.S. to refer to Taiwan as the Republic of China, it mandated the continuation of arms sales to the island of “Taiwan”. And in place of an embassy in Taiwan, the non-profit American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) would continue to serve the interests of the U.S. as a de-facto consulate.
Why did China permit the U.S. to use these loopholes to continue working with Taiwan much the same as before? No doubt China continued to insist on its “One China Policy” and was not happy with the actions of the U.S. Congress. But the answer to why they let it slide had more to do with rhetoric. Language matters and China’s leaders did not want people calling the Republic of China a nation. They wanted to change the narrative. They consider Taiwan a part of their domestic territory, so they demand their allies follow their lead in maintaining this same rhetoric.
When the U.S. rejected Taiwan and normalized relations with China under Carter’s leadership in 1979, the Republic of China (Taiwan) still maintained official diplomatic relations with nearly forty nations. But in the more than four decades that have passed since, that number has dwindled to just twelve. Jimmy Carter’s China policies directly affected Taiwan and led to the latter being marginalized on the world stage, while China has been emboldened in its efforts to consolidate power both in Asia and around the world.
China Empowered
Jimmy Carter's decision to renew U.S. diplomatic relations with China also had a massive influence on the latter growing into the economic behemoth that it has become. There is no way to know if China anticipated this explosive growth at the time, but there is no denying that today they recognize the massive debt they owe the late Jimmy Carter. This can be seen in the cascade of condolences coming out of mainland China in the wake of the former president’s passing.
For instance, in an official statement posted on the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, Chinese dictator Xi Jinping expressed his “deep regret for the passing of former President Jimmy Carter” and praised the former president for making “important contributions to advancing the development of China-U.S. relations as well as the friendly exchanges and cooperation between the two countries.”
Another Chinese propaganda piece praised Carter as a president who “approached China with humility and a desire to understand.” Later, the same article states that: “Today, Washington's policymakers seem intent on dismantling the foundation of Carter's policies. They are working to construct an image of China as a hostile adversary, even resorting to spreading misinformation to achieve this goal.” Rich words coming from a known Communist mouthpiece. But this is merely one way of pleading with Donald Trump to be more like Jimmy Carter. You can almost hear them begging:“Please don't lock us out, sanction us, or give us tariffs. Be nice like Jimmy!”
The Chinese are openly admitting that they would not be where they are today without Jimmy Carter’s help. It is shocking how giddy they seem over the fact that the former president officially “recognized” them. It’s a bit out of character for the Chinese not to be a more stoic about it and say something like, “Well, of course he normalized diplomatic relations. He did it because China was so great and growing so much. He had no other choice.” It's almost like they are admitting how bad off they were in that previous generation: “We were in a horrible place politically and economically and this guy came and saved us. Long live Jimmy Carter!”
Jimmy Carter and Deng Xiaoping
Pictures of Carter visiting China during and after his presidency often show him with his friend Deng Xiaoping (the premier who took the place of Mao). In at least one well-known picture they are obviously giving each other a hug. Deng Xiaoping took advantage of Jimmy Carter’s support and friendship and led China into opening up the nation economically in the 1980s.
Putting oneself in Jimmy Carter’s shoes back at that time, there is a temptation to want to cut him a little bit of slack. At that time China’s leaders were pushing for more free-market capitalism and leaning towards democracy more than ever before. Decades later Carter would describe Deng as one for whom “normalization was as important a goal as it was for me.” It is not a stretch to suppose that President Carter assumed China would inevitably become more modern, democratic, and capitalistic. And at that time it would have been easy to (prematurely) congratulate Jimmy Carter for his foresight.
However, most of those hopes came crashing down in the streets of Beijing during the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, 1989, which happened under Deng Xiaoping’s watch. The party elites of China had had enough of opening up, of liberalizing (in the good sense of the term). Hopes for democracy faded and the Communist Party made a concerted effort to maintain economic growth on its own terms, without sacrificing more of the tenets of communism.
If China had eventually gone the way of the Soviet Union and the Tiananmen incident had proven to be a turning point similar to the fall of the Berlin Wall, then Jimmy Carter’s China legacy could have turned out much differently. Observers might be looking back today and saying, “Jimmy took a risk, but it worked out in the end.” It's easy to condemn Carter now in hindsight, but it was not always obvious that China was going to regress like it has under Xi.
Unwitting Tool of Tyrants
Jimmy Carter considered his China decisions some of the best he ever made. He visited China many times over the decades and met with many heads of state and lots of Chinese people. In a 2019 interview, he boasted about his legacy and the love the Chinese had for him:
“[But] of all that I was able to achieve during my term as president, normalization with China may have been the most beneficial to world peace and understanding. In my frequent trips to China, I can tell by how I am welcomed by China's heads of state, provincial governors, university students, and ordinary people that they admire what we achieved.”
In wording his answer in this way, Carter unwittingly gives clear evidence for why Americans should not be thrilled with his China legacy. The Chinese love him because he did what they wanted. He was a tool in their hands. Ultimately, he marginalized Taiwan and legitimized the communist regime in such a way that gave them a huge boost in growing into the wealthy and powerful nation that they have become these last few decades.
In conclusion, Jimmy Carter may have thought he left a wonderful Chinese legacy, but the evidence shows that it is mixed at best; devastating at worst. Whatever benefits that may have come are tilted towards the Chinese government, not even their own marginalized peoples, and definitely not persecuted Christians. The Chinese regime has entrenched itself more than ever because of the wealth that has poured in since 1979, and President Carter’s China legacy may ultimately depend on what the awakened Red Dragon does with all that wealth and power in the coming generations.
