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“No one can lay claim to so much influence on the shaping of foreign policy over the past 50 years as Henry Kissinger.” —The Financial Times
In this sweeping and insightful history, Henry Kissinger turns for the first time at book length to a country he has known intimately for decades and whose modern relations with the West he helped shape. On China illuminates the inner workings of Chinese diplomacy during such pivotal events as the initial encounters between China and tight line modern European powers, the formation and breakdown of the Sino-Soviet alliance, the Korean War, and Richard Nixon’s historic trip to Beijing. With a new final chapter on the emerging superpower’s twenty-first-century role in global politics and economics, On China provides historical perspective on Chinese foreign affairs from one of the premier statesmen of our time.
- ISBN-109781101445358
- ISBN-13978-1594202711
- Edition1st
- PublisherPenguin Books
- Publication dateMay 17, 2011
- LanguageEnglish
- File size5415 KB
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CONTEMPORARY CONFUCIAN CONSTITUTIONAL RENAISSANCE REVISED ACCORDING TO CHINA DREAM AND HARMONY RENAISSANCE OR
ORDER OF THE HUMANE AUTHORITY WAY ENDOWED WITH SPIRIT OF CHINA DREAM AND HARMONY RENAISANCE
INTRODUCTION
In a paper titled "The Chinese dream can enrich world civilization" the well-known academic Yue Dai Yuan from Peking University posted the following questions to the Chinese nation: "First, what kind of ideological and conceptual schemes do we need to effectively tackle the world's problems? Without fundamental conceptual capabilities, no great ideals can be created nor can a strong culture and society be built. Second, what kind of social system can make a virtuous man willing to live in a society? Our future social designs must surpass both those of the ancients and those of the West. Only in this way will we benefit the people and make a contribution to world civilization. Third, what way of life can make people feel that their lives are meaningful? This requires society to cultivate spiritual values. No society can sustain a sense of purpose merely by achieving ever-higher living standards. It is only by developing a spiritual dimension that life can be enriched".
She answered her questions by looking into ancient Chinese civilization. There are reasons why the Chinese civilization continued 5000 years uninterrupted despite foreign invasions unlike all other ancient civilizations of the world that has ended. There are reasons why the Chines civilization influenced the whole world without hegemony or outright occupation. No other ancient or modern civilization has influenced the Far East as much as China did. According to Yue Dai Yuan, "The history of world civilization has demonstrated that Chinese civilization is a cultural system with powerful resonance. Since ancient times, Chinese culture has put the pursuit of a spiritual and moral life at the center of its concerns. Its harmony principles stand for reconciliation between man and nature, for healing the rift between logic and spirituality, between the pursuit of material wealth and the good life, between natural science and humanism"
" If these intrinsically Chinese cultural genes can be brought up to date and fused with our modern, culturally diverse world, a new Chinese dream that represents a new historical epoch will emerge and benefit all of humanity".
The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) laid out a strategy for building a culturally strong nation on the basis of ideals that, while having their roots in Chinese civilization, are different from both of those of the West and ancient China, and project a new China with new spirit of global significance. This CPC call opens the way for adopting Confucian inspired constitution for long term political reform and rejuvenation of world culture.
CALL FOR CONFUCIAN AND HARMONY RENAISSNCE
Along the above line of call by the 18 National Congress of the Communist Party of China(CPC) and his own outstanding research, the Confucian and Marxist scholar Jiang Qing, the most original, provocative Confucian political thinker, has single handedly led the contemporary debate on Confucian and Harmony Renaissance that led to the discovery of ancient Confucian teaching of the Humane Authority governance system or the Royal Way of governance. This ancient paradigm of superior governance explained why Chinese ancient civilization outlasted all other ancient world civilization and satisfied Prof. Yue Dai Yuan above three questions most expertly. The Humane Authority Governance System upholds that the legitimacy of governance follows the tradition of the Gongyang school of Confucius politics according to the contemporary Confucian and Harmony Renaissance debate. And this new contemporary Confucian teaching encompasses religion, philosophical and political thought, all three parts are integral of Confucius Renaissance.
The key feature of the Way of the Humane Authority lays down the theoretical basis for Confucian Constitutionalism and a Tricameral Parliament according to Jiang Qing's book "A Confucian Constitutional Order, how China's ancient culture can shape its political future". In this book and other contemporary Confucian and Harmony Renaissance debate one can find more details on Humane Authority governance tradition and discovery. According to current worldwide debate, the multifaceted Tricameral nature of Humane Authority governance system offers the promise of future solution for a world with diverse culture surpassing the Western liberal Democracy and Middle Eastern Theocracy. Because the Humane Authority Tricameral Parliament requires three legitimacy for good governance and defined as will of heaven, spirituality; will of earth, tradition and harmony and will of the people. In the Western liberal democracy, the legitimacy of the U.S. government is entirely grounded in the will of the people lacking the legitimacy of will of the tradition, harmony and will of heaven or spiritual qualities. Whereas the Middle East governance is strongly grounded in religion but lacking in the will of the people.
The promise of the Humane Authority Governance for the future diverse world forecasts the importance of Confucian and Harmony Renaissance will far surpass the discovery of democracy during European Renaissance. It is more universal and puts China in a higher moral high ground than liberal democracy as we shall see. The rediscovery of the Humane Authority political thinking in time will totally repudiate Margaret Thatcher's triumphant statement that "China is unlikely to become a superpower because it lacked an independent ideology with global clout" and the U.S. media often echo in chorus, that China will never catchup with the U.S. because it has no original idea of importance to offer to the rest of the word.
WESTERN LIBERAL DEMOCRACY WITHOUT CONCURRENT SUPORT OF HUAMNE AUTHORITY WILL NOT WORK IN CHINA
The deficiencies of Western liberal democracy without the concurrent support of Humane Authority are many, despite the famous tunnel vision statement by Churchill and the prediction by Professor Francis Fukuyama of Stanford University, in his book "The end of history and the last man "he concluded that Western liberal democracy is the answer all political solution for the world. In a New York Times article, titled "A Confucian Constitution for China" by Jiang Qing and Daniel Bell, the authors in response to Hillary Clinton's criticism of China, sum up the deficiency of Western liberal democracy as "Democracy is also flawed in practice. Political choices come down to the desires and interests of the electorate. This leads to two problems. First, the will of the majority may not be moral: it may favor racism, imperialism or fascism. Second, when there is a clash between the short-term interests of the populace and the long-term interests of mankind, as is the case with global warming, the people's short-term interests become the political priority. As a result, democratically elected governments in America and elsewhere are finding it nearly impossible to implement policies that curb energy usage in the interests of humanity and of future generations." Of late, news of U.S. government's shortcomings seems to flood the West's own media. Outstanding examples are: the U.S. 2008 financial crises that dragged down the world economy due to corrupt creation of toxic mortgage investments, to this day none of the U.S. culprit that caused the multi-trillion dollar loss has been sentenced; the U.S. government's gridlock that led to government shut down in 2013; the U.S. sky rocketing deficit spending; years of PEW survey leaves no doubt the alarming low confidence of U.S. public towards the direction the U.S. is heading. The loss of public confidence has a lot to do with the U.S. style election, the lack of performance, and the U.S. politician in order to win reelection tend to be short sighted and engage in negative campaign strategies .
The U.S. Supreme Court which has the ultimate say in law making is concerned only with matters of legality without moral guidance resulting in rulings such as "money is speech freedom" in U.S. political campaign thus allowing voting to be disproportionately dominated by the rich. Liberal democracy tends to favor community self-interest and narrow vision as oppose to measures that are more holistic and may benefit the world and the nation as a whole. The fact that the U.S. is only major developed nation did not sign the Kyoto Ecology Accord is a good example. The U.S. elections for president are more about popularity as opposed to meritocracy, the proven value system in the Far East. The uninformed public often is emotional and whimsical. The election of an alcoholic president who led us to the disastrous Iraq nation building war under false pretenses is unlikely to happen in a constituent representative democracy as practiced in Hong Kong and the Bahai faith.
For more discussions of the inadequacy of the U.S. liberal democracy and why it will not work in a country as large, complex and with 5000 years of history as China please read the revealing book "The Fourth Revolution" by chief editors of "The Economist" magazine John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge. The conclusion of the book is that Western Liberal Democracy has a lot to learn from East Asia's political system of selection by meritocracy combined with constituent representative democracy. Their brave and pointed warning is that without East West exchange and mutual learning to improve Western liberal democracy the U.S. is heading to the forth coming political Fourth Revolution. According to the Fourth Revolution, as the longest Civilization State in history, Western liberal democracy will not work in China. For detail analysis of China as a Civilization State please refer to the book "When China Rules the World" by Martin Jacques, the seasoned China observer, and "China Wave" by Zhang Weiwei, who maintained that China needs its own Confucian constitution brand for long term reform and lasting contribution to world civilization and political rejuvenation.
CORRECT AND RELEVANT NAME FOR THE THREE PARLIAMENT HOUSES OF HUMANE AUTHORITY WAY IN CHINA
The names of the three Parliament Houses in China adopted by the contemporary debate must be revised to fit their functionality in China. Confucius himself advised "before one acts one must have correct names." I propose the following reasons for changing the three Humane Authority Way parliament house names.
1) The name House of Heaven is not appropriate for China because it is not necessary to install state religion in Humane Authority Way to work, although in China, ancestor worship is traditional and widespread. It is an element of Confucius religion to remember and respect our common origin and continuity of Chinese civilization. What we need is the whole system of Confucian moral teaching as a noble guide for China. This moral teaching can be substituted by other nations cultural values deemed as more appropriate for each different country. This makes the Humane Authority Way more universal compared to the U.S. worldwide forceful enforcement of its bill of rights and systems of values, which may or may not be universal in other cultures having to deal with other higher rights priority such as the rights of livelihood, medical health and education. I propose that in China the House of Heaven be revised to House of spirituality as suggested by my wife Julia Devendorf, the consummate teacher. The spiritual quality of Confucian teaching is what highly recommended by Professor Yue Dai Yuan, another renowned and dedicated teacher, in the previously cited essay "The Chinese dream can enrich world civilization." I draw upon her inspiration of China dream to rename the House of Heaven as House of Spirituality (HOS). Although in some Islamic or Christian culture they may want to use the names "House of Ala" or "House of God" to be appropriate for their culture and tradition.
2) The name of "House of Earth" should be revised to "House of Tradition and Culture" (HTC) because the Humane Authority Way deals with good governance for a nation. The organic growth of any nation cannot be broken from its tradition and culture as witnessed by the immense chaos and tragedy created by U.S. nation building in Iraq that disrupts Iraqi on going tradition and political stability. In all nations, political change must be continuous otherwise we are inviting chaos and revolution that can be very costly. Most of all, a nation denies its tradition and culture has lost its soul. As a priority I strongly advised China must not look away from its 5000 years of continuous culture but must engage actively in Confucian and harmony renaissance because they are the essence of Chinese ancient culture. I strongly support the CPC dedication to rejuvenate China with Chinese characteristics. Because the continuation of a nation depends on tradition and culture.
3) The "House of Tradition and Culture" (HTC) must be able to exercise its guidance on Humane Authority Way with authority. So it shall be the only house given the veto power in the deliberation of national policy. The three houses are bound to work harmoniously by consensus but all laws including declaration of war, must pass withat least two houses to be adopted. The granting of veto power to the house is that as the executive arm of the government it can avoid gridlock and to stop social disturbance without calling upon the military. In the U.S. the president is granted the veto power. Unfortunately, giving one person the veto power will never win the hearts and minds of any nation. That is why Obama recently faces vigorous objections from the opposition party, the public and even the Supreme Court on legal grounds without needed moral judgment. On the other hand veto power to the "house of tradition and culture", HTC , collectively is very necessary at times of emergency to curb unnecessary and misguided violence. As an aside, the U.S. president is also given the power to wage war, to appoint Supreme Court judges and cabinet ministers. That makes the President effectively a dictator at times. It is most logical to grant those similar powers to the "House of Tradition and Culture", HTC, to maintain national stability with no need to call on the military. That fulfills the teaching of the Humane Authority Way.
4) The House of People's Will should be more specific, because of the afore mentioned short comings of U.S. liberal democracy and U.S. liberal democracy has infected China's uninformed public to look away from its tradition and culture and other developing nations are disturbed by international media controlled by the U.S. and West. Not the least let us not forget the warning of the forth coming Western political Fourth Revolution conclusion in the book "The Fourth Revolution". An appropriate name that exercises the people's will but allows more universality without falling into the trap of Western liberal democracy is constituent democracy. This form of democracy works to accommodate both election and selection by meritocracy. Constituent democracy has been proven in the success of Singapore, Hong Kong and the Bahai Faith. The House of the people's will shall be revised to "House of Constituent Democracy" HCD. China already has the equivalent of the HCD in the form of People's Consultative Congress that advices the present government. All China needs is to formalize it to become the HCD.
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA HAS PROVEN RECORDS TO CONTINUE CHINA'S SUCCESS, CULTURE AND TRADITION.
The CPC has ample track records to prove that it is the most logical entity to head the "House of Tradition and Culture"( HTC)with 51% vote in China. As much as the aforementioned three houses of parliament are bound by the principle of Humane Authority Way to work harmoniously, the power of veto to the "House of Tradition and Culture" is necessary to ensure smooth government function, so it is the most important house among the three pillars of the Humane Authority Way. HTC needs to be the strongest house so it can act as the executive branch of the three houses. The most credible and able of all political parties in China is the CPC, which can head the HTC for the following reasons:
1) CPC is the most natural, logical and able choice to continue the Chinese tradition to take charge of the HTC and to continue running all government functions to assure the most smooth transition to a Humane authority Way nation and society. CPC's current role is already the consensus leader of all the political parties and the 56 minorities of China. Its leadership style is one by constituent democracy in keeping with Humane Authority Way as a shining example of how the House of Constituent Democracy (HCD) can work in China.
2) In 1949 under the leadership of Mao Zedong as the founder and Chairman the CPC together with other minority political parties founded a unified Chinese People Republic that started the important tradition of the new China. Mao's revolutionary theories not only liberated the whole China under imperialist powers occupation but also for the first time in Chinese history liberated the masses and women as equal citizens. His famous saying on women rights that "Women carry half of the sky" started and was put into action from the early Yan An revolutionary days. His love for the minorities won the hearts and minds of the Tibetan, Xinjiang and Mongolia minorities. That is why Peoples Republic of China was able to unite Tibet, Xinjiang and Mongolia under Mao but not under the previous Nationalist government. All these monumental achievements make an undeniable modern Chinese epic tradition that will be long lasting and must be preserved for all Chinese history. In recognition of CPC's epic liberation legacy tradition under Chairman Mao's leadership CPC should be given 51% voting rights to head the HTC. Chairman Mao because of the liberation legacy he left for China will always be remembered as the father of modern China despite his mistakes of over enthusiastic for the future of China in his old ages. Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader that launched todays reform and open up era of modern China summed up correctly that he gave Mao 80% for correct leadership and 40% for impatience at old age, resulting in a 60% overall score. The Western media's constant malicious attack on Chairman Mao is very inconsiderate and insensitive to the majority of Chinese people.
3) Chairman Mao during his rule of China also correctly predicted the catching up with U.K. in economy during 1980s ,when China was so poor and behind it was inconceivable by the West that China can catch up with U.K. China's economy eventually did catch up with U.K. in 2000 under Deng Xiaoping. Mao's prediction is just a little early; however it sets the goals for China to continue to surpass the imperialist powers as a laudable tradition.
4) The progress made by China during the last 30 or so years starting with the reform and open up movement launched by Deng Xiaoping is nothing short of miracle. Its modernization broke all kinds of world records. It accomplished the modernization achievements in 30 years while it took the West centuries to accomplish. Coming from its poor agriculture background China today accounts for 90% of the world's poverty reduction by moving 600 million people out of abject poverty. It has higher life expectation and lower infant mortality rate than the U.S. It has more college graduates than the U.S. and soon will have more engineers and scientists working than the U.S. In 2012 its economy caught up with Japan to become the second largest economy in the world. Today it is the largest export country in goods surpassing the U.S., which came from mere millions in export in 1949 to today's trillions. It is expected by World Bank and many experts that China's economy will catch up with the U.S. in real terms by 2020 if not earlier. For more discussion of China's ascendance please refer to the book "China's Mega Trends" by John Nassbitts, "China in 2020" by Hu Angang, " The China Wave" by Zhang Weiwei and "When China Rules the World" by Martin Jacques.
WHAT LIES AHEAD AFTER CHINA IMPLEMENTED THE HUMANE AUTHORITY WAY?
Since the Humane Authority Way originated in ancient China it is natural for China to transition into it. As mentioned in previous section the CPC has also been in practice as political party for the last 60 years for the role as the consensus leader in the most important HTC of Humane Authority Way. According to the eminent scholar Yue Dai Yuen in Introduction, I quote again, "The history of world civilization has demonstrated that Chinese civilization is a cultural system with powerful resonance. Since ancient times, Chinese culture has put the pursuit of a spiritual and moral life at the center of its concerns. Its harmony principles stand for reconciliation between man and nature, for healing the rift between logic and spirituality, between the pursuit of material wealth and the good life, between natural science and humanism." Thus with renaissance of Confucianism and harmony brought about by China Dream and the Humane Authority Way, China will further her modernization in the direction as called for by the 18 National Congress of CPC under the leadership of Xi Jinping.
As a visionary new leader Xi already called for a China dream to rejuvenate the Chinese nation by rediscovery what is best in the past to combine with what is best in the future to bring a better life for all China with improved environment, better social and health services and an responsive governance according to the Humane Authority Way, a truly socialist nation with Chines characteristics. By today's news China already is the country with the biggest production of renewable energy products including solar energy products. Based on the conclusion of all cited references we can expect that China will be most exemplary in its undertakings entrusted by the Chinese people's wisdom. The CPC is the largest political party with 75 million active members, it has 60 years of proven nation building record as mentioned in the last section, it has the most resources among all political parties in the world, it is accustomed to manage large projects as witnessed by the perfect hosting of the 2008 Beijing Olympic with the theme "One world, One dream" and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo with the theme "Better City, Better Life". Both event themes accurately forecast China `s dream and future action.
All predictions expect China to become exemplary in political reform and modernization far exceeding its past achievements. China will become a good model to the multipolar world in all human endeavors beneficial to the world. No matter how strong China becomes it will never become a hegemony power. It will always practice harmony and mutual development as promised by President Xi Jinping in numerous world speeches. It is not in the Chinese gene to practice hegemony. China's culture profoundly influenced the world especially the East in the past but it was always through resonance instead of hegemony in contrast to the U.S. Ever since the end of second World War , as the world's only superpower the U.S. always seek to extend its influence through wars such as the Vietnam war and the Iraq war.
In the future the world will become more multipolar, more democratic and more peaceful because the U.S. will have to share its power position with China and other nations. As liberal democracy comes under more world denial beginning at the home front challenged by the political fourth revolution predicted by the book "The Fourth Revolution." The U.S. will involuntarily concede some of the moral high ground to China and thus become less aggressive and arrogant for the better. The U.S. postured shining light on the hill will become less blinding to the world , that allows a more diverse world culture with hundred flowers blooming in a verdant and beautiful world cultural garden.
Francis C W Fung, Ph.D.
Director General
World Harmony Organization
San Francisco, CA
RELATION OF CHINA DREAM, CHINA REVIVAL, DEMOCRACTIC WORLD ORDER AND MULTIPOLAR PEACE AND HARMONY
Dear editor, kindly publish and distribute following important China dream discussion topics:
Definition:
Harmony Renaissance: Revival of harmony philosophy ancient or modern for multipolar national cultural identity and world peace and harmony. For more details please refer to World Harmony Organization and Francis C W Fung publications. UPDATED 20 CHINA
China Dream: Revival of Chinese nation for national dignity and multipolar world peace and harmony. For more details on China dream please refer to summary of President Xi's statements.
1) China dream, harmony renaissance essential for China and global peace and China revival.
2) China dream and harmony renaissance together means Chinese soft power.
3) China must continue harmony renaissance for survival against U S criticism
4) China must be proactive on harmony renaissance not to be contained by U.S. liberal democracy
5) China dream, resolve south China sea dispute by harmony diplomacy
6) ancient Chinese thought, modern Chinese softpower through harmony renaissance
7) Harmony renaissance is the spirit of China dream, dream with in a dream
8) Harmony renaissance vs liberal democracy thought in 21st century.
9) Rally around harmony renaissance to rebuild a Chinese civilization state
10) Can China survive without harmony renaissance under U.S. democracy assault?
11) Survival of the fittest demands China dream to include harmony renaissance.
12) Without harmony renaissance China dream is empty
13) "China is unlikely to become a superpower because it lacked an independent ideology with global clout" according to Margret Thatcher.
14) China will remain a "small country" without harmony renaissance despite economic growth.
15) China dream means 21st century multipolar world, peace and world harmony.
16) Harmony renaissance is the missing ancient Chinese ideology with global clout Margret Thatcher is referring to.
17) Harmony renaissance is the revival of Chinese cultural value ,ancient and modern.
18) The Chinese dream with harmony renaissance can enrich world civilization.
19) Harmony renaissance adds spiritual life and perspective to China dream.
20) Harmony Renaissance will be a preferred balance to U.S. relentless and powerful push of liberal democracy ideology on other countries in a multipolar world.
21) China dreams mean democratic world order and multipolar world peace and harmony.
22) Sun Yet Sen and Nationalist party empowered the elite, Mao Zedong empowered women and the masses, Deng Xiaoping's reform and open up empowered the economy and rule and order, the final movement in the symphony of Chinese modernization is to empower China's soul and spirit with China dream and harmony renaissance.
Best of Harmony
Francis C W Fung, Ph.D.
Director General
World Harmony Organization
Early in the book, to demonstrate the differences between Chinese and western strategic thinking, Kissinger compares chess to wei qi, known in the west by its Japanese name "Go". Chinese strategic thinking, as stressed in the writings of Sun Tzu, does not stress absolute mastery, which is the name of the game in chess. Chess is a game with a clear victor and a clear winner, where total domination of the other player is the key. It ends when the opposing king meets the grim reaper. By contrast, wei qi is a game of subtle victories, with a lot of close matches where a game has a slight winner, but barely. In addition, the strategic priority in chess is to gain control of territory with the pieces already on board -- everything is explicit. In wei qi, which translates as "game of surrounding pieces", strategy is to be found in the pieces not yet placed on the board. Chess matches begin with a struggle for control of the center of the board and for the elimination of enemy pieces in head-on clashes; Wei Qi players move into empty pieces to mitigate the strategic potential of their adversaries. Quoting Kissinger "Chess produces single-mindedness; wei qi generates strategic flexibility."
This leads into Kissinger's analysis of historical Chinese geopolitical strategy. Tradition in China was to rarely directly militarily engage enemies, instead preferring subterfuge. The strongest army was the army that never needed to fight. The strategy with respect to the barbarians surrounding China was to play "barbarian against barbarian", a narrative Kissinger implied continues through to the present day.
Playing barbarian against barbarian was a strategy that worked for China due to its historical position of strength. Its emperor was ruler of "all under heaven" and trade with other countries was contextualized in terms of tribute to the emperor - an ideology which meant an absence of trade with Japan. This strategy would near its end with increasing trade with the west, particularly Britain. China viewed Britain as a "far barbarian", an offense to Britain. Britain was not allowed an embassy in China as horizontal state to state relations would be an offense to Chinese state ideology. Trade with China was limited to a single port. After the opium wars (opium being the one western import that was immensely successful in the Chinese market), trade with China was expanded to six ports, and embassies were allowed. Not wanting to give advantage to Britain, they gave the same deal to other imperial powers hoping to spur competition. The Chinese court concluded that playing barbarian against barbarian was the wise choice, and that they should play France and America against Britain. However, they had no real means to make that happen. What would follow was a "century of humiliation", including the Boxer rebellion and the occupation of Manchuria, whereby China was consistently subject to the will of foreign powers. There were individuals in the Chinese court pleading change, but conservative forces would consistently win out. Plans for military and technological catch-up to the west were rejected on the basis that "China would no longer be China". At some point, I'd like to better understand why China fell prey to conservatives and oligarchy whereas Japan underwent the Meiji restoration and industrialized? This is not explained by Kissinger. As I read the anecdtoes of the incompetence of 19th century Chinese leadership, I could not help but think of the current American leadership, whose priority is to maintain oligarchy at all costs, even at the expense of the future.
The ongoing humiliation of China, the boxer rebellion, the carving up of Chinese territory by Russia and Japan could only end in the complete eradication of the previous Chinese ruling class, and the rise of Mao Zedong (Kissinger's preferred spelling). Kissinger speaks approvingly of Mao, and all of his major actions except for the cultural revolution are spoken of with praise. All three of China's major wars since Mao: The Korean war, the Sino-Indian war, and the third Vietnam war, are portrayed as Chinese victories. In the Korean war, China shocked the world by entering the conflict, and achieved its goal of creating a Korean buffer state and not having Western troops on its border, of falling victim to the wei qi strategy of encirclement. In the Sino-Indian war, Kissinger spoke approvingly of how Mao was motivated by a previous conflict ~1000 years prior, when China deterred future Indian aggression. It would take over territory and give it back, and give back captured weapons, a successful move of preemptive deterrence, and since that time India has not dared attack China.
Interesting is the third Vietnam war (France and United States made up the first two). As recently as 1973, China and Vietnam had been allied, but the exit of the USA changed geopolitical considerations in the area. Vietnam, a historic Chinese vassal state, wanted to reunite all of Indochina, such an empire of ~100 million people under Ho Chi Minh would challenge regional Chinese hegemony. It signed a mutual defense treaty with Moscow in 1978 or so, and China saw the risk of being encircled, a la wei qi. As such, in a move of aggressive deterrence, it invaded Vietnam, wiped out enemy forces at huge cost to its own forces, and then pulled out. Vietnam no longer had the means to create a united Indochina, and a mockery was made of the Soviet Union, who failed to live up to their treaty obligations. Surprisingly, this obvious victory for China is one that Kissinger states was perceived as a failure by the western media and strategic analysts at the time. Why? Kissinger laments the fact that the best alternative to keep Vietnam out of Cambodia was to align with the "execrable" Pol Pot.
The rise of the Sino-American alliance is presented in the book as being primarily a consequence of Soviet antagonism. China was recruiting the far barbarian (United States) to help fight the near barbarian (Soviet Union). Sino-soviet relations began to sour in the Korean war, where Mao was upset at the lack of Soviet assistance. There were also frequent border clashes in China's north. Over time, Chinese propaganda began referring to the USSR as "revisionist" rather than "communist" or "socialist".
Kissinger does ask why rapprochement did not happen earlier. In the 1950s, it was impossible on the part of the USA because state department thinkers were embroiled in the debate of "who lost China", referring to the nationalist defeat at the hands of the communists. This led to soviet experts taking over the positions of intelligence command. In the 1960s, China was torn apart by the internal instability of the cultural revolution, an impact that Kissinger compares to the effect the second Vietnam war had on the sociology of the USA. Once both countries had settled down, and the issue of Soviet intimidation became to serious to ignore, the case for rapprochement became stronger and stronger. Kissinger also claims that Mao was hedging because he thought the Vietnam protests in the USA could unleash a revolution there -- this sounds hard to believe. It is also claimed he equated the timelines between 1918-1939 and 1945-1968, and thought another convulsion was around the corner.
I didn't pay as much attention in the sections dealing with 80s, 90s and early 2000s as I found them kind of dull. There was some brief discussion about the Chinese shock with respect to the negative world reaction following Tienanmen square, they didn't get why the rest of the planet cared. Had I been more informed I might have been more captivated by the commentary that China is returning to Confucian values, rather than its post-revolutionary Marxist-Maoist ideological structure.
Forwarding to the future, Kissinger asks if China-US relations are under the same framework as Britain-Germany relations of 100 years prior. He brings up the Crowe memorandum of 1907, which concluded that Berlin-London antagonisms were inevitable and independent of behaviors and beliefs of their leaders. Kissinger realizes this may be the case but urges a different future. He points out that whereas European leaders in 1914 were unaware of the destructive potential of their weapons, the same is not true of current leaders and nuclear weapons. He urges the creation of a pacific community, much like the post-war atlantic community, so that Sino-US relations can be moved through the prism of a shared future rather than a competition. I wonder if he really means to endorse global government. It's a nice picture, but it seems all of these politics end with a rosy epilogue showcasing a vision of a possible bright future.
In an interview on TV I saw of Kissinger with respect to this book, he said that the concept of "China's rise", was a mislabel. China, he said, believes it has always been at the apex of civilization, and the period 1800-2000 or so is merely an exception to the historic norm. That is the impression I get from his text, and of Kissinger's view of China.
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For the great introduction and reasons that is demonstrated nowadays, on why the Chinese communists nowadays.
Henry Kissinger came to know China and Chinese better than many, I would argue that better than any Caucasian I know of or have been fortunate to read
But the same Kissinger failed to provide for Chinese philosophies and their sense of goal (agitation continuum) | time (beyond any sense of human-lifetimes)| concept of agreement (or sense of convenience) | stratagems in designing and implementing Cold-War strategies at the times of Non-Aligned movement with associated anxieties in the US and NATO, choosing to sleep with double-dealing Pakistan!
Result: China outwitted and outsmarted Kissinger, who was likely aware of the risk all along...
So is life, I have been Satya Chari










