Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 22, 2019. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)
(Bloomberg) -- Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said the U.S. and China must establish rules of engagement for their increasingly tense competition or risk recreating the uncertainty that characterized global politics leading up to World War I.
“Our leaders and their leaders have to discuss the limits beyond which they will not push threats,” Kissinger, 97, said Wednesday in a virtual discussion hosted by the Economic Club of New York. “And then they have to find a way of conducting such a policy over an extended period of time.”
“You can say this is totally impossible,” he added. “And if it’s totally impossible, we will slide into a situation similar to World War I.”
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WNU Editor: In a ideal world Henry Kissinger's warnings make sense. But in the current situation I have doubts that this is workable. China has adopted a position to not compromise on key issues. China's position in regards to Taiwan is a textbook example on why Kissinger's hope that limits can be agreed upon will not work. To China the issue of Taiwan is non-negotiable. Taiwan is a renegade province that must be reincorporated back into China. Any moves by Taiwan to assert its independence and/or form deeper alliances with countries like the U.S. will mean war. In that environment how can you set limits to avoid a blow-up? There is none with the exception of one and that is bowing down and accepting China's demands. And if that is what happens you can then take this to the bank .... China will then want more.
5 comments:
Your comment is like history opt to repeat itself...
history opt to repeat itself
People are questioning Nixon's China Opening.
If they do that, they also question Kissinger's intelligence.
Shut up you old fool!
In Crimea more people were ethnic Russian than ethnic Ukrainian. Crimea as par of Ukraine is an artifact of Soviet governmental decision in the 1950's. Still I don't like how the Russians did it.
The Russians had popular support and they went in clandestine way 1st.
Most of the people in Taiwan are ethnic Han and no Austronesian aboriginal. Many of so much invested in the Mainland that they can be bent for a time such as an election. Do not know the exact percentages. They have a fiscal stake that makes them vulnerable.
The attitudes of Taiwanese and Mainlanders is different.
Maybe the ruling clique in Beijing are just impatient, because it effects their time tables and strength of their claims in the South China Sea and elsewhere?
Maybe if Germany had not been reunified in 1989 and had went on another 100 years as separate they would never get back together. Maybe if it goes on too long Beijing figures that Taiwan will never be re-united with the Mainland.
I think Taiwan would be happy to be re-united with the Mainland, they just are picky about what set of rules it happens under. They do not want to be communist.
But you raise a good point for discusssion.
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