Charles Pierce: Sanders Said Something We Weren't Ready to Hear Last Night

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25. Kissinger opens business opportunities with China while Nixon warred with Communist

North Vietnam.

http://adst.org/2013/02/nixon-goes-to-china/
“There is no place on this small planet for a billion of its potentially most able people to live in angry isolation.” Richard Nixon, after his election in 1968, pushed for better relations with China despite historical tensions and hostilities. In 1971, National Security Advisor and future Secretary of State Henry Kissinger took two trips to China – the first made in secret – to consult with Premier Zhou Enlai. After more than two decades of icy relations, Nixon embarked on a trip to China starting on February 22, 1972. Not only did this visit strengthen Chinese-American relations, but it also served to encourage progress with the USSR.

Winston Lord was a member of the National Security Council’s planning staff and accompanied Nixon on his visit to China. He later became a top policy advisor on China, Ambassador to China, and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. In these excerpts from his oral history, Lord discusses the geopolitical rationale for the trip, working with Nixon and Kissinger, meeting Mao Zedong, and negotiating the Shanghai Communiqué over concerns regarding Taiwan.

You can read Lord’s account of Kissinger’s secret negotiations with Peking and Chas Freeman’s experiences as interpreter during the trip. Go here for other Moments on China.
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