Regrettably, he did not offer any advice as to what a speaker should do who is destined to address an audience waiting eagerly to delve into the entree. Nonetheless, I will be brief because Henry, for some reason, is able to maintain his intelligence apparatus. He has virtually stolen everything I was going to say to you this evening. Tonight, I would just like to say that after over two decades of drinking from the well dug by Henry Kissinger and others who are here this evening, we are paying tribute to those who have worked so hard for so long to build a deep and abiding and enduring relationship with China. I agree completely with Dr. Kissinger when he says that the preservation of national interests can never rest upon personalities or personal friendships between national leaders.
Leaders change, friendships can fade.
But I must say that the importance of personal contact and friendships cannot be underestimated or marginalized in contributing to the understanding, if not indeed the enlightenment, about another nation. I thought it was ingenious. The Russians were not impressed at the time, but during the course of a two-day meeting, I had occasion to meet with a Russian poet by the name of Yevtushenko. Otherwise, we will forget each other's faces. It was a very poetic way of expressing to me that it's important that we continue to put faces on people that we should deal with and have to deal with.