When I first saw China, there were no automobiles. There were no supermarkets. There were no high-rise buildings. There were no consumer goods. There were no restaurants that were at least accessible that foreigners could see. It was a Stalinist society, and a very poor Stalinist society. So the economic system has totally changed, and the private sector in the economic system is now the dominant sector. It didn't exist at all as late as 1979.
Henry A. KissingerIf you control the oil you control the country; if you control food, you control the population.
Henry A. KissingerEvery civilization that has ever existed has ultimately collapsed. History is a tale of efforts that failed, or aspirations that werenโt realized. So, as a historian, one has to live with a sense of the inevitability of tragedy.
Henry A. KissingerIf a Chinese plane landed at Los Angeles Airport having just bought down an American military plane, he wouldn't be permitted to leave the next day. So then we developed a framework which should have been acceptable as a concept to the Chinese, namely to express regret for the loss of life and maintain our position that we had a right to fly these missions.
Henry A. Kissinger