Abe, Like Nixon, Goes to China

Shinzo Abe's trip to China is drawing comparisions with Richard Nixon in 1972.  Via AsiaOne, AP reports:

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's right wing leanings could doom a summit with Chinese leaders on Sunday - or they could be the key to a rapprochement between the feuding Asian giants, analysts say.

"Two years from now, we might look back on this and say 'Look, he did a Nixon,'" said Dutch Sinologist Willem van Kemenade, referring to former U.S. President Richard Nixon's historic 1972 visit to Beijing, which led seven years later to the opening of diplomatic relations.

Nixon, like Abe, was a conservative whose credentials let him take the politically risky step of engaging Beijing without drawing fire from anti-communists at home.

To read more:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_GEN_CHINA_JAPAN_SUMMIT_ASOL-?SITE=ASIAONE