China has been carrying out a clandestine century-long ploy to fly under the radar while receiving aid in the form of funds, know-how and technology from the United States, claimed a China expert in a recently released book.

Michael Pillsbury's "The Hundred Year Marathon" disclosed new information about classified CIA deals with China in pursuing covert missions in Angola and Afghanistan, as well as almost a billion dollars worth of arms supply to China in the 1980s.

Like Us on Facebook

Pillsbury is a Mandarin-speaking analyst who has recommended China policy and action for every U.S. president since Richard Nixon.

He said Mao Zedong began the ambitious secret program in 1955, starting with promoting the belief that China is a backward, destitute and insular country.

It was totally wrong for the U.S. to help China and give away things to the Chinese to so they stay friendly, Pillsbury said in an interview.

The secret tactic led to an unprecedented boost to China's military and "superhawks" of the Communist Party who are now busy trying to eclipse the United States in influence and power, the author concluded in his book.

The Chinese subterfuge is also a way to gain worldwide economic influence, he said, adding that China's quiet military buildup is only a part of a larger plan.

China's economic dominance, political reach and military might will help it achieve the status of a new "hegemon" whose anti-democratic government model will be copied around the globe, Pillsbury added.

The book also revealed for the first time that then-President Nixon's top national security adviser Henry Kissinger did not initiate China's opening to the United States in 1969 to 1970.  It was seen as one of America's most important strategic gambits.

Instead, Pillsbury showed that Chinese generals made the opening, after playing the Washington card against then rival Soviet Union, amid worries Moscow would seek to take over China. 

TagsThe Hundred Year Marathon, Michael Pillsbury, US-China relations