Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter (L) toasts to Taiwan Vice-President Lien Chan in Taipei Mar. 29, 1999. Carter began his first visit to Taiwan, where he is still regarded by many as a traitor for cutting Washington's ties to the island 20 years ago to recognise communist China. (Simon Kwong/Reuters)
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U.S. President Bill Clinton toasts with Chinese counterpart Jiang Zemin during a state banquet in Beijing June 27. Clinton was the first U.S. president to visit China since George H.W. Bush had in 1989, months before the Tiananmen Square massacre which soured Sino-U.S. relations. (Andrew Wong/Reuters)
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U.S. President George W. Bush (L) meeting his then Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, at the Zhongnanhai Compound in Beijing on Aug. 10, 2008. (Larry Downing/Reuters)
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Republican Henry Hyde, chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives' International Relations Committee (R), views an exhibition in Shanghai Dec. 11, 2002, called "Journeys to Peace and Cooperation", showcasing the 30th anniversary of U.S. President Richard Nixon's visit to China in 1972. The photograph shows Chairman Mao Zedong meeting President Nixon. (Claro Cortes/Reuters)
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Tourists are reflected in the window of a shop displaying shirts and pouches bearing an image U.S. President Barack Obama's face imprinted over that of China's late leader Mao Zedong, in the popular tourist area of Houhai in central Beijing Sept. 21, 2009. Obama will visit Shanghai and Beijing for the first time on Nov. 15-18. (David Gray/Reuters)
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