US President Richard M. Nixon and China's Premier Zhou Enlai review troops at Beijing's airport on Feb 26, 1972 during Nixon's historic visit to China

'New necessities'

Forty years on, Kissinger has shuttled across the Pacific more than 50 times.

He said at the Asia Society event that in his book he was trying to explain "why that relationship is so crucial for peace and progress in the world and how both sides ... have to adjust their traditional thinking, or their historic thinking, to the new necessities".

He suggested that the relations between China and the United States must evolve "from crisis management to a sense of community" to deal with what he termed "an international situation for which there is no precedent in history".

"If they don't, every issue in the world will become an issue between great powers, and the danger of matters getting out of control and the loss of the possibility for creative joint efforts would be a tragedy," he said.

The Chinese hope that readers take his following messages to heart. In his introductory speech at the Asia Society event, Ambassador Zhang highlighted one of Kissinger's views that "echoes with the same from ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius, who said: 'A gentleman aims at harmony, not uniformity.'

"It is important for China and the US to recognize, understand and respect the differences and carefully manage bilateral relations, which is of increasing importance not only to both countries but also to the world at large," Zhang said.

"Just as he writes in his book, relations between China and the US need not and should not become a zero-sum game," Zhang said. "What needs to be dealt with is to move from crisis management to a definition of common goals."