105. Editorial Note

Three days before his trip to the People’s Republic of China, on February 14, 1972, President Nixon spoke about his trip with Henry Kissinger in the Oval Office following a meeting with André Malraux, former Minister of Culture of France. (A memorandum of the conversation with Malraux is in the National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, White House Special Files, President’s Office Files, Memoranda for the President.) During the President’s conversation with Kissinger, which was recorded on tape, Kissinger briefly compared the Chinese and Russians from a national perspective:

Kissinger: Now, you have a tendency, if I may say so, Mr. President, to lump them [the Chinese] and the Russians; they’re a different phenomenon.

Nixon: Oh, I know.

Kissinger: They’re just as dangerous, in fact they’re more dangerous over an historical period. But the Russians don’t think they’re lovable, and the Russians don’t think they have inward security. The Russians are physical and they want to dominate physically. And what they can’t dominate, they don’t really know how to handle. The Chinese are much surer of themselves because they’ve been a great power all their history. And, being Confucians, they really believe that virtue is power.”

Kissinger then discussed how he saw the role of the United States with respect to the Soviet Union and China: “For the next 15 years we have to lean toward the Chinese against the Russians. We have to play this balance of power game totally unemotionally. Right now, we need the Chinese to correct the Russians, and to discipline the Russians.”

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Shortly thereafter, Kissinger continued in this vein:

Kissinger: Our concern with China right now, in my view Mr. President, is to use it as a counterweight to Russia, not for its local policy.

Nixon: I agree.

Kissinger: As a conduit, to keep it in play on the subcontinent for the time being, but above all as a counterweight to Russia. The fact that it doesn’t have a global policy is an asset to us, the fact that it doesn’t have global strength yet—and to prevent Russia from gobbling it up. If Russia dominates China, that would be a fact of such tremendous significance.” (Conversation Between President Nixon and Henry Kissinger, February 14, 1972, 4:09-6:19 p.m.; ibid., White House Tapes, Oval Office, OVAL 671-1)

This transcript was prepared in the Office of the Historian for use in this Foreign Relations volume. A more complete transcript of this conversation is scheduled for publication in Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, China, 1969–1972.