Book description
For more than twenty years after the Communist Revolution in 1949,
China and most of the western world had no diplomats in each others'
capitals and no direct way to communicate. Then, in July 1971, Henry
Kissinger arrived secretly in Beijing on a mission which quickly led
to the reopening of relations between China and the West and changed
the course of post-war history.
For the past forty years, Kissinger has maintained close relations
with successive generations of Chinese leaders, and has probably been
more intimately connected with China at the highest level than any
other western figure. This book distils his unique experience and long
study of the 'Middle Kingdom', examining China's history from the
classical era to the present day, and explaining why it has taken the
extraordinary course that it has.
The book concentrates on the decades since 1949, presenting
brilliantly drawn portraits of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping
and other Chinese leaders, and reproducing verbatim Kissinger's
conversations with each of them. But Kissinger's eye rarely leaves the
long continuum of Chinese history: he describes the essence of China's
approach to diplomacy, strategy and negotiation, and the remarkable
ways in which Communist-era statesmen have drawn on methods honed over
millennia. At the end of the book, Kissinger reflects on these
attitudes for our own era of economic interdependence and an uncertain
future.
On China is written with great authority, complete
accessibility and with many wider reflections on statecraft and
diplomacy distilled from years of experience. At a moment when the
rest of the world is thinking about China more than ever before, this
timely book offers insights that no other can.
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 Chairman of
Kissinger Associates, Inc., an international consulting firm.
