1.
GV INT. Cabinet officials seated PAN ACROSS TO Kissinger ZOOM OUT & PAN TO Nixon & Rogers
0.14

2.
CU Nixon
0.18

3.
SV Malfatti & Nixon talking
0.24

4.
SV Aircraft taxiing
0.29

5.
SV Steps being pushed towards aircraft
0.32

6.
SV Sign "Welcome to Tan Son Nhut"
0.34

7.
SV Kissinger shakes hands with officials (2 shots)
0.42

8.
SV EXT. Parliament building
0.46

9.
SCU Mrs Gandhi & Kissinger (2 shots)
0.58

10.
LV President's house
1.02

11.
GV INT. Kissinger shaking hands with Yahya Khan
1.12

12.
SV Both man seated
1.17

13.
CU Kissinger
1.22

14.
SV Kissinger down aircraft steps and greeted, walks towards pressmen, takes newspapers, waves and away to helicopter (2 shots)
1.55


Kissinger seated in White House meeting with Nixon and other officials; Kissinger visiting South Vietnam and in Indian with Prime Minister Mrs Gandi; Kissinger with former Pakistani President Yahya Khan; aircraft taxiing and Kissinger down steps after secret China trip.




Initials SGM/1600 SGM/1522


EDITORS NOTE: THIS FILM, FROM THE VISNEWS LIBRARY, IS DESIGNED TO PROVIDE BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR PRESIDENT NIXON'S COMING TRIP TO THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Doctor Henry Kissinger can be credited with most of the groundwork which led to President Nixon's coming visit to the People's Republic of China, scheduled to begin on 21 February. It was Kissinger's secret journey to Peking last year which led to the preliminary arrangements for the historic trip.

Kissinger is a skilled and cool negotiator -- a quality brought dramatically into the open earlier this month when it was revealed that he had been President Nixon's "secret agent" in numerous meetings with the North Vietnamese in Paris; meetings that went totally undetected by the world's press.

During his 30 months of secret negotiations with the North Vietnamese, there were moments when Henry Kissinger nearly finalised a peace-plan. When President Nixon finally announced that the talks had been taking place, the adverse reaction from Hanoi, Peking and the official North Vietnamese offices in Paris to the disclosure rejected the American peace offers and revealed the only serious failure in Kissinger's political career.

The former Harvard professor is not without enemies. He has come under severe criticism from Government officials for the way he runs his department. Some subordinates resent his authority and his close contact with the President, while others speak of a widening gap between the White House administration and the State Department, headed by William Rogors.

President Nixon's coming trip to China may be partly counted as a Kissinger triumph. it may be the Chief Foreign Policy Advisor's last political high spot -- he is thinking of returning to Harvard after President Nixon's current term in office expires.

SYNOPSIS: When President Nixon received and invitation to visit the People's Republic of China last year, Henry Kissinger -- his chief foreign affairs adviser -- was credited with most of the preliminary arrangements for the historic trip. Kissinger's influence on Presidential policy has made him an unpopular man in some political circles. Some speak of the widening gap between the administration and the State department.

Kissinger's involvement in peace negotiations to and the Indo-China war made world headlines earlier this month. When he made this trip to Saigon last year, he had already been involved in months of secret talks with the North Vietnamese in Paris.

In July last year, Kissinger met Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in New Delhi. The United States was giving 2,000 million dollars worth of aid to Pakistan at that time, and Mrs Gandhi warned of war if the aid continued.

From New Delhi Kissinger flew to Rawalpindi to meet with the now deposed Pakistani President, Yahya Khan. Immediately after this meeting it was announced Kissinger had fallen ill and was resting in northern Pakistan for a few days.

But the foreign affairs adviser was in fact in Peking, holding some 20 hours of talks with Chinese Premier Chou Enlai, making tentative arrangements for President Nixon's visit. When Kissinger returned to the United States, he was carrying details from the Chinese Government for the first-ever visit by a United States President. The announcement which followed was an astounding political coup for President Nixon, and a personal triumph for Henry Kissinger. It was termed as one of the most important secret missions of the decade, but it may have been the former University professor's last. He is thinking of returning to his position at Harvard when President Nixon's current term in office expires.