Drawing on historical records as well as his conversations with Chinese leaders over the past forty years, Kissinger examines how China has approached diplomacy, strategy, and negotiation throughout its history, and reflects on the consequences for the global balance of power in the 21st century. Since no other country can claim a more powerful link to its ancient past and classical principles, any attempt to understand China's future world role must begin with an appreciation of its long history. Kissinger illuminates the inner workings of Chinese diplomacy during such pivotal events as the initial encounters between China and modern European powers, the formation and breakdown of the Sino-Soviet alliance, the Korean War, Richard Nixon's historic trip to Beijing, and three crises in the Taiwan Straits. Drawing on his extensive personal experience with four generations of Chinese leaders, he brings to life towering figures such as Mao, Zhou Enlai, and Deng Xiaoping, revealing how their different visions have shaped China's modern destiny. From the publisher.

Army reading list. Includes maps of: China and Its Neighbors.

1. The singularity of China : The era of Chinese preeminence ; Confucianism ; Concepts of international relations: impartiality or equality? ; Chinese Realpolitik and Sun Tzu's Art of War -- 2. The Kowtow question and the opium war : The Macartney mission ; The clash of two world orders: The Opium War ; Qiying's diplomacy: soothing the barbarians -- 3. From preeminence to decline : Wei Yuan's blueprint: "Using barbarians against barbarians," learning their techniques ; The erosion of authority: domestic upheavals and the challenge of foreign encroachments ; Managing decline ; The challenge of Japan ; Korea ; The Boxer Uprising and the new era of warring states -- 4. Mao's continuous revolution : Mao and the great harmony ; Mao and international relations: the empty city stratagem, Chinese deterrence, and the quest for psychological advantage ; The continuous revolution and the Chinese people -- 5. Triangular diplomacy and the Korean War : Acheson and the lure of Chinese Titoism ; Kim Il-sung and the outbreak of war ; American intervention: resisting aggression ; Chinese reactions: another approach to deterrence ; Sino-American confrontation -- 6. China confronts both superpowers : The first Taiwan Strait crisis ; Diplomatic interlude with the United States ; Mao, Khrushchev, and the Sino-Soviet split ; The second Taiwan Strait crisis -- 7. A decade of crises : The great leap forward ; The Himalayan border dispute and the 1962 Sino-Indian War ; The cultural revolution ; Was there a lost opportunity? -- 8. The road to reconciliation : The Chinese strategy ; The American strategy ; First steps: clashes at the Ussuri River -- 9. Resumption of relations: first encounters with Mao and Zhou : Zhou Enlai ; Nixon in China: the meeting with Mao ; The Nixon-Zhou dialogue ; The Shanghai communiqué ; The aftermath -- 10. The quasi-alliance: conversations with Mao : The "horizontal line": Chinese approaches to containment ; The impact of Watergate -- 11. The end of the Mao era : The succession crisis ; The fall of Zhou Enlai ; Final meetings with Mao: the swallows and the coming of the storm -- 12. The indestructible Deng : Deng's first return to power ; The death of leaders: Hua Guofeng ; Deng's ascendance: "reform and opening up" -- 13. "Touching the tiger's buttocks": the third Vietnam War : Vietnam: confounder of great powers ; Deng's foreign policy: dialogue with America and normalization ; Deng's journeys ; Deng's visit to America and the new definition of Alliance ; The third Vietnam War -- 14. Reagan and the advent of normalcy : Taiwan arms sales and the third communiqué ; China and the superpowers: the new equilibrium ; Deng's reform program -- 15. Tiananmen : American dilemmas ; The Fang Lizhi controversy ; The 12- and 24-character statements -- 16. What kind of reform? Deng's southern tour -- 17. A roller coaster ride toward another reconciliation : the Jiang Zemin era : China and the disintegrating Soviet Union ; The Clinton administration and China policy ; The third Taiwan Strait crisis ; China's resurgence and Jiang's reflections -- 18. The new millennium : Differences in perspective ; How to define strategic opportunity ; The national destiny debate: the triumphalist view ; Dai Bingguo: a reaffirmation of peaceful rise -- Does history repeat itself? The Crowe memorandum : Toward a Pacific community?.