Book Review- "On China", Henry Kissinger

      Elder statesman, Henry Kissinger, former national Security advisor and Secretary of State, wrote a detailed account of modern diplomatic relations with Mao's China when he, along with then President Richard Nixon, entered into discussions with Mao and his Premier, Zhou En Lai. 1972 was the year Nixon went to China to reset the relationship with "Communist" China, as opposed to the Nationalist government(Koumitang Party) of Chiang Kai-Shek now set up on the island of Taiwan, aka Formosa.  The US only recognized the Nationalist government as the legitimate representative of China.  This could hardly be the political center of China, and Nixon was no fool.
      After his victory in 1968 when he bested Hubert H. Humphrey, Nixon set out to make his mark in foreign policy.  Enter Henry Kissinger, now a respected actor on foreign policy and an acknowledged expert in international relations.  However, the immediate foreign policy problem was the continuing war in Vietnam, underway for over 5 years with casualties mounting everyday.   Against this backdrop, Nixon wanted to engage Mao and Zhou.  By the late 60's, the Chinese Cultural Revolution was in full flower, and its disastrous results were felt around the globe as China withdrew into herself to follow Mao's 'Little Redbook' and its precepts for modern living under a Communist State.  The Russian Bear to the north also caused much anxiety in Beijing, and Mao's solution was to accept Nixon's offer as the third leg of the power stool of late-20 century power separation.  Mao knew he was the weakest of the 3, but could bluff his way to the table by insisting that he was as powerful because he had the most people.
      Kissinger gives the reader a concise history of the fall of the dynasties that ruled China for several millennia.  In 1912, the modern revolution became the changing face of the people.  When the Russian revolution occurred, it spread to Mao and others who would then roll up the countryside and adopt a new governing method as invoked in Moscow as the Czar and his family were purged by the Bolsheviks.  The Chinese struggled for democracy, but after the end of WW I, the concept as professed by Americans did not find a home in East Asia.  Chiang Kai-Shek and Mao fought for control  of the country, and before it could be settled, Japan attacked the country and laid claim to northeast China- Manchuria.  The new common foe united the two warring parties, and along with help from the USA, the Japanese were defeated and sent home.  Then hostilities were renewed between the factions.
      We understand how it ended: Taiwan occupied by Chiang, Mao in Beijing, and the US a bit player for the next 35 years.  Then Nixon was forced to resign in August, 1974 as a result of the Watergate Scandal.  Then Mao died in 1976, to be succeeded by Deng Xiaping(with help from Zhou).  Power struggles continued, and Dr. Kissinger relates the history of the infighting among Mao's successors up Xi Jing Ping.  His story is compelling reading as he sheds light on the facts that often elude journalists who are forced to listen to secong hand reports.  Dr. Kissinger sat in on all the negotiations.   In light of current trade issues with the US, China must be understood within its own modern politics, warts and all.