Henry Kissinger, a former secretary of state, said on Friday that the United States and China may be “on the brink of war,” as the Biden administration struggles to improve its traditionally tense ties with the two totalitarian governments.
The 99-year-old statesman said that American leaders are having “difficulty identifying a path” in the current political environment, which he feels has led to the rise in international tensions, without mentioning any specific individuals.
According to Kissinger, “We are on the verge of conflict with Russia and China over difficulties that we helped create in part.”
All you can do is generate choices and avoid escalating tensions, and in order to accomplish so, you must have some kind of goal.
He spoke of a world order in which nations respect one another’s often conflicting principles while keeping them distinct from the negotiation table and on which the balance of moral and geopolitical stability relies.
Kissinger, though, told the Journal that US voters and leaders now struggle to distinguish between maintaining solid diplomatic ties and having “personal connections with the opponent.”
According to Kissinger, “the contemporary time has a significant difficulty determining a direction.”
It reacts quickly to the feelings that are there.
He issued this warning only a few days after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s contentious trip to Taiwan, which China’s leadership vigorously rejected as a breach of the US’s long-standing One China Policy.
Even though there was very little forewarning of the Speaker’s arrival in Taipei, President Joe Biden and the US military made it obvious that they had reservations about the trip.
Even though there have been demands from both political parties for the president to be harsher on Beijing, Kissinger counselled the Biden administration to maintain the status quo in diplomatic relations.
According to Kissinger, “the strategy that was pursued by both sides has generated and enabled Taiwan to evolve into an independent democratic state and has sustained peace between China and the U.S. for 50 years.”
Therefore, “steps that appear to affect the underlying structure” should be approached with extreme caution.
His warning also came three days before news broke early on Sunday morning that a second US congressional delegation, including senators and representatives from the house, was on its way to Taipei.
Beijing has been told by Washington officials that as Congress is independent of the executive branch, the visits have no impact on US foreign policy.
Chinese authorities and state media continue to provide grave warnings of repercussions if the US stays on its current course, despite this.
However, Kissinger also seemed to change his mind on Ukraine joining NATO, some five months after Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the order to invade the Slavic neighbour.
He earlier drew flak for implying that Russia’s harsh and unjustified assault was caused by NATO’s willingness to let Ukraine join its defence alliance.
Kissinger referred to Finland’s agreement, which stipulates that it has no permanent armed forces of its own, when he remarked, “I was in favour of the complete independence of Ukraine, but I felt its ideal function was something like Finland.”
“Now I think that Ukraine needs to be considered in the wake of this as a member of NATO, one way or another, officially or not,” said the speaker.
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