On China

by Kissinger, Henry

• ISBN13: 9781594202711
• ISBN10: 1594202710
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-05-17
• Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The

Summary

The eminent historian and strategist reflects on how China's past illuminates its twenty-first-century trajectory, drawing on forty years of intimate acquaintance with the country and its leaders. In Untitled on China, Henry Kissinger turns for the first time at book length to the country he has known intimately for decades and whose modern relations with the West he helped shape. Drawing on historical records as well as on his conversations with Chinese leaders over the past forty years, Kissinger examines how China has approached diplomacy, strategy, and negotiation throughout its history and reflects on the consequences for the twenty-first-century world. As Kissinger underscores, the unique conditions under which China developed continue to shape its policies and attitudes toward the outside world. For centuries, China rarely encountered other societies of comparable size and sophistication. China was the "Middle Kingdom," treating the peoples on its periphery as vassal states. At the same time, Chinese statesmen-facing threats of invasion from without and the contests of competing factions within-developed a canon of strategic thought that prized the virtues of subtlety, patience, and indirection over feats of martial prowess. Untitled on Chinaexamines key episodes in Chinese foreign policy, from the earliest days through the twentieth century, with a particular emphasis on the modern era. Kissinger illuminates the inner workings of Chinese diplomacy during such events as the initial encounters between China and modern European powers, the formation and breakdown of the Sino-Soviet alliance, the Korean War, the opening of relations with the United States, the Tiananmen Square crackdown, and China's accession to the World Trade Organization. The book traces the evolution of Sino-American relations in the past sixty years, following their course from estrangement to strategic partnership and toward an uncertain future. Kissinger analyzes the two towering figures of the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, and their divergent visions of China's modern destiny. With a final chapter on China's twenty-first-century world role, Untitled on Chinaprovides a sweeping historical perspective on Chinese foreign policy from one of the premier statesmen of the twentieth century.

Author Biography

Henry Kissinger served as national security advisor and then secretary of state under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, and has advised many other American presidents on foreign policy. He received the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Medal of Liberty, among other awards. He is the author of numerous books and articles on foreign policy and diplomacy and is currently the chairman of Kissinger Associates, Inc., an international consulting firm.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xv
Note on Chinese Sellings	p. xi
Prologue	p. 1
The Singularity of China	p. 5
The Era of Chinese Preeminence	p. 8
Confucianism	p. 13
Concepts of International Relations: Impartiality or Equality?	p. 16
Chinese Realpolitik and Sun Tzu's Art of War	p. 22
The Kowtow Question and the Opium War	p. 33
The Macartney Mission	p. 35
The Clash of Two World Orders: The Opium War	p. 45
Qiying's Diplomacy: Soothing the Barbarians	p. 51
From Preeminence to Decline	p. 57
Wei Yuan's Blueprint: "Using Barbarians Against Barbarians," Learning Their Techniques	p. 60
The Erosion of Authority: Domestic Upheavals and then Challenge of Foreign Encroachments	p. 64
Managing Decline	p. 69
The Challenge of Japan	p. 77
Korea	p. 80
The Boxer Uprising and the New Era of Warring States	p. 86
Mao's Continuous Revolution	p. 91
Mao and the Great Harmony	p. 92
Mao and International Relations: The Empty City Stratagem, Chinese Deterrence, and the Quest for Psychological Advantage	p. 97
The Continuous Revolution and the Chinese People	p. 106
Triangular Diplomacy and the Korean War	p. 113
Acheson and the Lure of Chinese Titoism	p. 118
Kim Il-sung and the Outbreak of War	p. 122
American Intervention: Resisting Aggression	p. 129
Chinese Reactions: Another Approach to Deterrence	p. 133
SinoAmerican Confrontation	p. 143
China Confronts Both Superpowers	p. 148
The First'Taiwan Strait Crisis	p. 151
Diplomatic Interlude with the United States	p. 158
Mao, Khrushchev, and the Sino-Soviet Split	p. 161
The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis	p. 172
A Decade of Crises	p. 181
The Great Leap Forward	p. 181
The Himalayan Border Dispute and the 1962 Sino-Indian War	p. 184
The Cultural Revolution	p. 192
Was There a Lost Opportunity?	p. 197
The Road to Reconciliation	p. 202
The Chinese Strategy	p. 203
The American Strategy	p. 213
First Steps-Clashes at the Ussuri River	p. 215
Resumption of Relations: First Encounters with Mao and Zhou	p. 236
Zhou Enlai	p. 241
Nixon in China: The Meeting with Mao	p. 255
The Nixon-Zhou Dialogue	p. 262
The Shanghai Communique	p. 267
The Aftermath	p. 273
The Quasi-Alliance: Conversations with Mao	p. 275
The "Horizontal Line": Chinese Approaches to Containment	p. 277
The Impact of Watergate	p. 292
The End of the Mao Era	p. 294
The Succession Crisis	p. 294
The Fall of Zhou Enlai	p. 297
Final Meetings with Mao: The Swallows and the Coming of the Storm	p. 303
The Indestructible Deng	p. 321
Deng's First Return to Power	p. 322
The Death of Leaders-Hua Guofeng	p. 327
Deng's Ascendance-"Reforrn and Opening Up"	p. 329
"Touching the Tiger's Buttocks": The Third Vietnam War	p. 340
Vietnam: Confounder of Great Powers	p. 341
Deng's Foreign Policy Dialogue with America and Normalization	p. 348
Deng's Journeys	p. 356
Deng's Visit to America and the New Definition of Alliance	p. 360
The Third Vietnam War	p. 367
Reagan and the Advent of Normalcy	p. 377
Taiwan Arms Sales and the Third Communiqué	p. 381
China and the Superpowers-The New Equilibrium	p. 387
Deng's Reform Program	p. 396
Tiananmen	p. 408
American Dilemmas	p. 411
The Fang Lizhi Controversy	p. 428
The 12- and 24-Character Statements	p. 437
What Kind of Reform? Deng's Southern Tour	p. 440
A Roller Coaster Ride Toward Another Reconciliation: The Jiang Zemin Era	p. 447
China and the Disintegrating Soviet Union	p. 456
The Clinton Administration and China Policy	p. 461
The Third Taiwan Strait Crisis	p. 471
China's Resurgence and Jiang's Reflections	p. 478
The New Millennium	p. 487
Differences in Perspective	p. 493
How to Define Strategic Opportunity	p. 497
The National Destiny Debate-The Triumphalist View	p. 503
Dai Bingguo-A Reaffirmation of Peaceful Rise	p. 508
Epilogue: Does History Repeat Itself?
The Crowe Memorandum	p. 514
Toward a Pacific Community?	p. 527
Notes	p. 531
Index	p. 567
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