between the United States and China in 1972, which Kissinger very brilliantly leveraged immediately. Almost as soon as he left Beijing, what did he do? He turned around and flew to Moscow to meet with Brezhnev and to strike a detente deal with the Soviet Union. Mao, in fact, was livid. He thought he was completely snuckered by Kissinger. He talked about how this is a duplicitous man that can be trusted. So funny because now, of course, he's been heralded as this great friend of China. But at the time, Mao was absolutely astonished that he would be betrayed in this way, where he thought that they were building a partnership with America against the Soviet Union. China had just fought a border conflict with the Soviet Union in 1969. What does Kissinger do? He leverages that and improves the relationship with the Soviet Union and doesn't actually pay China anything. This is the mistake that people make, that China was not opened up by Nixon and Kissinger. It was not recognized. The trade (20/57)
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