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Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. 

#1 China has long understood the importance of understanding America, as the Chinese Communist Party believes their survival depends on it. However, America has rarely felt the need to understand China, as their geopolitical footprint is so large.

#2 China’s history is one of periodic incursions by foreign invaders. Chinese official culture has long taken pride in its ability to Sinify invaders within a generation of their arrival through the inherited norms, practices, and procedures of China’s formidable Confucian bureaucratic state.

#3 The Americans were the dominant Christian presence in China after the Chinese government forced out the Europeans in the First Opium War in 1839. American missionaries led the way in the establishment of Western hospitals, colleges, and universities in China.

#4 The American relationship with China changed with the American Revolution. The United States replaced Britain as China’s principal interlocutor with the West. However, American policies towards China were influenced by questions of race.

Summary of Kevin Rudd's The Avoidable War

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