Introduction

This is a history of the ideas behind Chinese foreign policy, and to a large extent these have been and still are the ideas of Mao Tse-tung. The story begins in the 1920s when Chinese revolutionaries, including Mao, puzzled over the connection between imperialism abroad and revolution at home. It ends in the 1970s, when China has long since made its revolution, but still faces immense problems of a theoretical as well as a practical kind in dealing with the external powers. The visit of President Nixon to Peking in February 1972 was not an end to China’s long search for international security, but only the beginning of another of the many efforts which it has made in that direction.