First came Henry Kissinger’s secret mission to meet Mao Zedong to prepare President Richard Nixon’s visit to China; then came the so-called Nixon Shock – the decision just a short time later to end the US dollar’s direct convertibility to gold (a pillar of the post-war international monetary system created at Bretton Woods in 1944). The opening to China and the Nixon Shock confirmed the position of those in Japan who knew that the country could not remain on permanent sabbatical from its foreign-policy role and responsibilities.
当然，这当中并非没有挫折。事实上，两次重大挫折都来源于美国。先是亨利·基辛格秘密受命会见毛泽东为尼克松总统访华做准备；之后就是所谓的尼克松冲击波——其后不久又决定宣布美元与黄金的直接兑换（1944年在布雷顿森林创建的战后国际货币体系的支柱）脱钩。对华开放和尼克松冲击波证实了部分日本人的看法，即日本不能永远不承担外交政策职责。