China and the United States

Both President Nixon and Chairman Mao have confessed to failure. While neither has admitted to bankruptcy of past policies, both have executed 180-degree turns. Our line and their line have changed again.

This turning point in the relations among world powers should nevertheless be for the better, considering the absurdity of America’s long refusal to concede the existence of a government with effective control over some threequarters of a billion people. And considering also the xenophobia in China, which unleashed rioting youth in the “Great Cultural Revolution.” This oddly named “Great Cultural Revolution,” an application of Mao’s version of permanent revolution, awaits intensive study. But ...