主题：【文摘】基辛格这老先生太毒辣了，非要把话说破了... -- ataraxi

基辛格首次访问共产主义中国的时间很早。在西方世界里，很少有人能在对中国了解的广度和深度上与他匹敌。因此我问他，在目前西方对中国批评和忧虑的气氛下，他对中国的观感如何。“告诉你我是怎么看中国的吧。中国是这样的一个国家，它那持续、自主的政府形态可以追溯到4000年前。只有这个国家能拥有如此的成就。你必须从一开始就推想到：他们一定已经从生存的需求中学到了一些东西。我们不能总是设想自己比他们懂得多。”

“第二，由于他们可能将成为全球范围内的一种持久因素，即所在地区的主导成员，或最具影响力的成员；而且，他们在经济和地缘政治上已变得如此重要，这将成为我们面临的最为严峻的挑战——因为中美关系的发展对他们有利。

“一些美国人认为，如果我们让中国实现民主，他们会变得更容易驾驭。这种想法的假设前提是：我们已了解‘民主化'的含义。难道他们真的有可能会变得更加温顺吗？”显然，他对此表示怀疑。

Kissinger first went to communist China very early and few in the west can match his breadth and depth of knowledge. So I ask how he views China today, in the current climate of western criticism and concern. "Let me tell you how I see China. China is a country with a record of continuous self-government going back 4,000 years, the only society that has achieved this. One must start with the assumption that they must have learnt something about the requirements for survival, and it is not always to be assumed that we know it better than they do.

"Secondly, because they are likely to be a permanent factor in the world, the dominant or most influential actor in their region of the world that has become so important economically and geopolitically, it becomes the most serious challenge for us, as relations with the United States are for them.

"Some here in the United States believe that if we democratise China, they will become more tractable. This assumes that we know what democratise means. Is it indeed likely that they will become more pliable?" Clearly, he doubts this.