Ronald Reagan

From Actor to Governor (1911–1980)

Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on 6 February 1911 in Tampico, Illinois. According to the presidential biography on the archived White House website, he attended high school in nearby Dixon and worked his way through Eureka College, studying economics and sociology; he then became a radio sports announcer, won a Hollywood contract after a screen test in 1937, and appeared in 53 films over the next two decades. As president of the Screen Actors Guild he became embroiled in disputes over communism in the film industry, and his political views shifted from liberal to conservative. He was elected Governor of California in 1966 and re-elected in 1970.

The Presidency (1981–1989)

Reagan won the Republican presidential nomination in 1980 with George Bush as his running mate, defeating President Jimmy Carter by 489 electoral votes to 49. He took office as the 40th President on 20 January 1981; 69 days later he was shot by a would-be assassin but quickly recovered and returned to duty. He pursued tax and spending cuts at home and "peace through strength" abroad, raising defence spending by 35 per cent over his two terms; in meetings with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev he negotiated a treaty to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles. He and Bush won a second term in 1984.

The August 17th Communiqué and the "Six Assurances" (1982)

After the establishment of US-China diplomatic relations in 1979, continued US arms sales to Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act became a major issue between the two countries. On 17 August 1982 the two governments issued a joint communiqué (the "August 17th Communiqué"). It states that the question of US arms sales to Taiwan was not settled during the normalisation negotiations and was discussed further when Premier Zhao Ziyang met President Reagan in October 1981; the US government stated "that it does not seek to carry out a long-term policy of arms sales to Taiwan, that its arms sales to Taiwan will not exceed, either in qualitative or in quantitative terms, the level of those supplied in recent years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and China", and "that it intends gradually to reduce its sale of arms to Taiwan, leading, over a period of time, to a final resolution", and reaffirmed that it had no intention of pursuing a policy of "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan". China regards the Shanghai Communiqué, the normalisation communiqué and the August 17th Communiqué as the three joint communiqués guiding China-US relations.

According to the Congressional Research Service, in July 1982, during the communiqué negotiations, Under Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, with Reagan's authorisation, cabled James Lilley, director of the American Institute in Taiwan, with points to convey to Taiwan's President Chiang Ching-kuo, delivered on 14 July and later known as the "Six Assurances": the United States had not agreed to set a date for ending arms sales to Taiwan, had not agreed to prior consultation with the PRC on arms sales, would play no mediation role between Taipei and Beijing, had not agreed to revise the Taiwan Relations Act, had not agreed to take any position regarding sovereignty over Taiwan, and would not press Taiwan to negotiate with the PRC. The cables were declassified in 2020.

The 1984 Visit to China

From 26 April to 1 May 1984 Reagan paid a state visit to China, the first by a sitting US president since diplomatic relations were established. Receiving him on 28 April, Deng Xiaoping said: "I have been looking forward to meeting Your Excellency for two years." Talking about their ages, Deng said he would turn eighty in a few months, and Reagan replied that he would be eighty in seven years. According to People's Daily Online, citing CCTV and Xinhua, the two sides signed four agreements and protocols in Beijing, including on the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of tax evasion, and initialled an agreement on cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

He also received Chinese leaders in Washington: on 23 July 1985 he hosted a state dinner at the White House for President Li Xiannian, and in May 1987 he met Yang Shangkun, then visiting the United States as vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Later Years and Death

Reagan left office in January 1989. He died on 5 June 2004, aged 93, and was buried at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.