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Guangqiu Xu, Chris Tudda. A Cold War Turning Point: Nixon and China, 1969–1972., The American Historical Review, Volume 118, Issue 3, June 2013, Page 887, https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/118.3.887
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Using newly released documentary evidence from U.S. and international archives, especially the Nixon tapes and Kissinger telephone conversations, Chris Tudda has written an outstanding book on the U.S.-China relationship. This very detailed, well-researched account reflects Tudda's longtime engagement with the study of U.S.-China relations during the Cold War era. It demonstrates the intricacy of Sino-U.S. relations from 1969 to 1972, illustrating the major forces that shaped Nixon administration policy toward China in what was an especially grave moment for U.S. relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan.
Tudda is correct when he writes that “the president and his national security team—unlike his four predecessors—and the PRC government boldly moved along parallel lines to forge a new relationship that fundamentally altered the cold war” (p. ix). But the question is: were both Washington and Beijing forced to forge a new relationship under the new international and domestic circumstances respectively, or had they intended to change their policies “boldly” toward the other during that time? Many factors were responsible for fostering the U.S. rapprochement with China.
