Kissinger, in His Own Word

choi

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(1) Henry Kissinger, The China Challenge. Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2011.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703864204576315223305697158.html

My comment:
(a) Henry Kissinger (born 1923) is 88 years old.
(b) This is an abstract of his new book. I see nothing new, except teh first two paragraphs. I do not know if Mr Kissinger misinterpret it or Beijing/Chinese really think so, about Yellow Emperor. In Taiwan, it (story of Yellow Emperor) is just a myth.

(2) Bret Stephens, A Diplomat Looks East; Will Beijing continue to pursue a policy of 'peaceful rise' or become a more belligerent player on the world stage?  Wall Street Journal, May 12, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730804576314931204039982.html
(book review Henry Kissinger, On China. Penguin Press, 2011)

Quote:

"What followed was more than a century of humiliation and catastrophe, much of it self-inflicted.

"Certainly they [Mao's mehtods] were daring: Within little more than a decade of coming to power in 1949, he had gone to war with the U.S. in Korea, cemented Washington's military alliance with Taipei by bombarding the Taiwanese islands of Quemoy and Matsu, waged a brief war with India over some Himalayan outposts, and turned the Soviet Union into an avowed enemy. * * *  It also meant that by the mid-1960s China was almost completely encircled by hostile powers, a failure of Go strategy if ever there was one.


My comment:
(a) More than (3) below, this review inject more of reviewer viewpoints into the book review.
(b) exceptionalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exceptionalism
(c) precept (n): "a command or principle intended especially as a general rule of action"
www.m-w.com
(d) For Clausewitzian, see Prissian geenral and military strategist Carl von Clausewitz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_von_Clausewitz
(1780-1831; stressed the moral and political aspects of war; His most notable work, Vom Kriege (On War), was unfinished at his death)
(e) "trifle" in "not to be trifed with" (vi): "to treat someone or something as unimportant"
(f) The review says, "Mr. Kissinger takes his survey through the 1980s reforms of Deng Xiaoping."

survey (n): "a broad treatment of a subject"


(3) Michiko Kakutani, An Insider Views China, Past and Future. Ne York Times, May 10, 2011.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/10/books/on-china-by-henry-kissinger-review.html?scp=2&sq=kissinger&st=cse

My comment:
(a) This review is lengthy, in part by quoting a lot from the book.
(b) William Burr and Henry Kissinger, The kissinger Transcript; The Top-Secret Talks With Beijing and Moscow. New Press, 1999.
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