You sound very young.
Did China and Russia clash in the 1950s? Yes! They also cooperated (see: Korean War). They also had squabbles in the 1960s. And that is precisely why Nixon did what he did: Play the two major communist nations against each other to encourage a widening of a divide. Because Nixon recognized that if the two major communist nations ever seriously joined hands it would be disastrous for the world.
We had virtually no trade with China until 1979 (five years after Nixon left office), when the feckless Jimmy Carter normalized relations with Communist China. Even after that, the trade was minimal. That all changed with Bill Clinton and the admission of Communist China into the WTO.
Nixon was a committed anti-communist in the 1970s, and remained one until the day he died.
The only country China had good relations with before Nixon was Albania.