16/5/2011: Henry Kissinger’s new book, On China, has surprised and disappointed many in theUS for the way Kissinger glosses over human rights abuses inChina and ignores crackdowns on dissidents. In 40 years, Kissinger has visitedChina more than 50 times. He is regarded as a key player in the opening up of relations with the West. Max Frankel, former editor of the New York Times who covered Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to Beijing, is reported as saying that the book has done little to dispel the view in Washington that America’s foremost apostle of ‘realpolitik’ “has long considered democracy to be a burden on statecraft.” *
It is also worth noting that that Kissinger Associates represents numerous international corporations seeking to do business in and withChina. It would be a cynic who suggested there was a splash of self interest in Kissinger’s blindness to human rights abuses inChina.
* The Australian, Monday, May 16, 2011, page 12: “Kissinger critics see red on China”
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