Question

China demonstrated its willingness to open talks with the United States by

A. rejecting communism.

B. opening trade with American companies.

C. inviting an American table tennis team to play against its athletes.

D. signing an agreement that limited arms deployment and stockpiling.

Answer 1

B :)

Answer 2

The answer I'd shoot for is C., the ping pong answer. There's a reason that there's a phrase "ping pong diplomacy". Opening trade isn't entirely wrong, but it happened later after China began talking with the West.

It sounds bizarre, but the story goes much further than that. Long story short, the Chinese invited an American ping pong team to play in the country in 1971 which signaled that they were willing to open up. The next step was in preparing for a visit by then-President Nixon which made history.

Before this, China was largely isolated. The ping pong team were the first American delegation invited there since 1949. The country was a huge mystery to everyone in the West since the Communists closed the country so people were eager to see what they were like.