Henry Kissinger om Kina 1972
” The Chinese people are obviously a great people. They have the longest unbroken record of government in one area of any of the existing civilizations; and secondly, 800 million people representing 25 percent of the human race are a factor that cannot be ignored. They will influence international affairs whatever we intend to do and declaratory policy we adopt. They are a reality. And their policy, for good or ill, will determine the possibilities for peace and progress. And that is irrespective of what we do.
… if it is true that the big problem of the immediate post‐World War II period was to avoid chaos, and if it is true that the big problem of the next 20 years is to build a more permanent peace, then it seems to us impossible to build a peace, which we would define as something other than just the avoidance of crisis, by simply ignoring these 800 million people.
Nor do we over‐estimate what we can do by unilateral actions towards them.
They will make their decisions on the basis of their conceptions of their needs, and of their ideology. But to the degree that their actions can be influenced by ours, we are prepared to engage in a dialogue with them.”
White House Years (1979)