Joint Statement Announcing the Date of the President's Visit to the People's Republic of China.

Note: The joint statement was read by Press Secretary Ronald L. Ziegler during his regular news briefing at the White House on November 29, 1971. The announcement was made simultaneously in Washington and Peking.

Excerpts from additional remarks by Mr. Ziegler in connection with the announcement read as follows:

I would like to say that preparations for President Nixon's visit continue to go well, and the general framework has been established. The February date, which I have just given to you, was agreed to when Dr. Kissinger was in Peking.

I would just recall for you the fact that when the joint announcement of the President's visit to Peking was made in July, [it] stated that the meetings between the leaders of China and the United States are being held to seek the normalization of relations between the two countries and also to exchange views on questions of concern to the two sides.

As the President has pointed out, . . . we shall try in the meetings with the leaders of the People's Republic of China to seek a new direction in our relationship between our two countries and to end the isolation of our two great peoples from each other.

On October 27, an announcement of the status of arrangements for the President's trip, following meetings in Peking between Premier Chou En-lai and Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, from October 20 to 26, was read by Mr. Ziegler at his regular news briefing at the White House. The announcement is printed in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (vol. 7, P. 1453). On the same day, the White House also released the transcript of a news briefing by Dr. Kissinger on the meetings in Peking.

The transcript of a news briefing by Dr. Kissinger on the President's trip and on U.S. foreign policy was released by the White House on November 30 and is printed in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (vol 7, P. 1582).

A statement by Mr. Ziegler on the freeing of two American prisoners by the People's Republic of China was released by the White House on December 13 and is printed in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (vol. 7, p. 1656).

On December 28, a joint announcement of plans for an advance party to visit the People's Republic of China to make technical arrangements for the President's visit was read by Deputy Press Secretary Gerald L. Warren during an afternoon news briefing at Key Biscayne, Fla. The announcement is printed in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (vol. 8, p. 4).