I have read that secretary of state Henry Kissinger, while officially on business in Pakistan, went to Beijing in secret in order to arrange what would become Nixon's well-known 1972 diplomatic visit to China.
What I've never quite understood is, and sorry if this is stupid, but why couldn't he simply call/telegram China directly and propose a meeting? Why did Nixon/Kissinger feel that they had to go through Pakistan?
Given the ongoing border clashes of the Sino-Soviet split, wouldn't China naturally have been open to entertain diplomatic discussions with the only other superpower of the time, regardless of whether the offer came through Pakistan or anywhere else?
if the question seems a bit trivial, I'm curious because it seems like Nixon thought that Pakistan was so important to his plans for opening relations with China that the USA tacitly approved, rather than condemned Pakistan's massacring of innocents in Bangladesh and ended up sending a carrier strike group to dissuade India from considering any follow-up military action after the liberation of Bangladesh.
I'm not implying that Nixon did all of this for a referral to China, I assume there were many strategic goals at stake. but I have read that a big fear in Nixon/Kissinger's mind was that an Indian invasion of Pakistan risked ruining their Pakistan channel to China, and that they were extremely relieved when India didn't take any further military actions. But even if their worst fear had come to pass, why would calling China up themselves be so much worse than using this channel?