I can’t disagree with you.
However, Nixon going to China was an attempt to play China off Russia (remember, he went to China in February, 1972, and followed that up with a trip to Russia in May, 1972). At the time, it made sense.
Two drowning men clinging to each other will drown faster than one.
Nixon was trying to be cleaver. But what he did was foolish. No matter what he intended he threw them a livesaver. He should have let the ChiComs drown too under the weight of socialism.
Yes, at the time it did. Once the USSR fell, it was time to switch off. Instead, we kept kicking Russia like a beaten dog, cozied up to China, continued to pour investment into China, granted MFN, allowed them to snag our tech, became dependent on them for essential goods including vital medical supplies, built up their middle class at the expense of our own, etc., etc.
Frankly I don’t think Nixon could have forseen China’s embracement of Capitalism after Mao’s death that would turn them into the economic power they became.