He was smart, but he fumbled Vietnam...but was lucky the Soviets fumbled with China, and Kissinger helped draw his policy known as ping-pong diplomacy. He lured China away from the USSR., and this worked well in both the USA and China's favors...culminating in the Chicomm era of the 21st century and Obama's "pivot to Asia" to contain a junior partner/moreso rival who grew too big for its britches.
But behind the scenes, throughout the 80-90s, the duplicitous sneaky Chinese saw the signs and prepared for the inevitable day the American behemoth turns on it...so what did they do?
Groom a lil unknown KGB agent, named Vladimir Putin.