Posted on 04/03/2007 1:33:33 PM PDT by Paul Ross
Tuesday, April 3, 2007 7:29 a.m. EDT
Font size=+3>Kissinger: U.S., China Can Form 'New Global Order'
Newsmax, Reporting Reuters.
China's rise as a global power is inevitable and could lead to conflict unless Beijing and Washington can cooperate to create a new global order, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said on Tuesday.
Kissinger first came to Beijing in 1971, on a secret mission to re-establish Sino-U.S. ties after more than two decades of diplomatic silence.
Since then, economic reforms have turned China into a powerhouse. Beijing is now running a trade surplus with the United States that Washington last year put at $230 billion, and helps keep its rival afloat by buying vast amounts of U.S. debt.
Washington politicians have also sparred with Beijing over issues related to its rapid development from currency controls to military spending and foreign policy in countries like Sudan.
But Kissinger said China's growing political and economic prominence was irreversible, and if the two nations could not cooperate it raised the specter of war.
"When friends and colleagues in the United States talk about the rise of China and the problems it presents to us, I say the rise is inevitable. There is nothing we can do to prevent it, there is nothing we should do to prevent it," Kissinger said.
"When the centre of gravity moves from one region to another, and another country becomes suddenly very powerful, what history teaches you is that conflict is inevitable. What we have to learn is that cooperation is essential," he said in a lecture to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Challenges ranging from nuclear proliferation to increasingly tight energy supplies and environmental degradation needed to be tackled together.
"I look at Sino-American relations as a challenge to build a new international system based on human insight, on cooperative action, to avoid catastrophe," Kissinger said.
"Those of you who are students and who will be shaping the world should not think of the other country as adversaries."
Kissinger insisted the world must avoid exoticizing China. When he first came to Beijing, he said, his prepared speech contained a line about reaching a "mysterious country", prompting a challenge by master diplomat Zhou Enlai, then China's premier.
"Zhou Enlai put up his hand and said 'What is so mysterious about China? There are 900 million of us and it is not mysterious to us.' That was an important lesson," Kissinger said.
ping
sorry, I reversed it.
Your trade deficit dollars at work.
I’ve never been a Kissinger fan, but he is right on with this regarding China becoming a superpower.
The economic power is growing at rates that seem excessive, until you look at the population and potential of rising working and middle class. We can’t stop it. It’s actually in our best interest that it become economically strong.
On the military side of things, they are no match for us but they are gaining technology by leaps and bounds and one day they will be able to compete with us in the Taiwan Straits. It may take 20-30 years but it is coming for our future generations.
They need our consumer market to buy their products. We still have some leverage. It will take time for them to become a responsible nation on the international scene, but once some of these commie hardliners die and become replaced with economic reformers, they could actually be a responsible actor on the int’l scene. We need to trust but verify, but they may not be the big enemy that some think they are - in time.
Before you get on board with China, remember that private property doesn’t exist in that nation nor does the rule of law.
I’m in with India... but then I’m just stating the obvious... we are merging with Asia.
They shouldn’t be allowed? They are already a power and are getting more powerful all the time. There isn’t a damned thing we can do about that. Personally, I’m pretty happy about some of the changes China has undergone in the the last several years. They are becoming more of a capitalist society. Their markets are opening up more. They’re allowing their people more and more freedom, becoming a little more democratic. They still have a long way to go, but these are positive steps in the right direction.
I think Kissinger is making some sense. You are free to disagree.
At current, uncorrected trends, yes.
But they are correctable. Hence, his claims of "inevitability" are egregious and proveable errors.
As Deng Xiaoping said...
"Tell your President we do not have this type of relationship."
“Washington can cooperate to create a new global order”
‘New global order” Come on Henry. beating the drums for China again? You obviously wish to see China dominate the entire Asian Pacific region, just like you thought it was OK to ignore the rise of Russia as a dictorial world power. We do not wish to have another confrontation like that drawn out affair. We wish to see less influence of China in the Far East, not more, and an end to the Chinese syphoning off our industries one by one. The next destination of plants and services for relocation is China, bypassing the labor markets south of our border. If this keeps up indefinitely our industrial base will eventually disappear. Even the company I was with when I retired, who have manufacturing operations in Mexico, are now looking for partners in China to produce finished product at a lesser cost than is available in countries in this hemispere. They currently buy a host of product components from sources in China.
One very noneconomic trend that encourages me is the new freedom of Chinese scholars to explore the geology and archeology and invite in their Western counterparts to observe and participate. They have been bound and gagged for 50 years and are now freed of those restraints and able to enter the world dialog. They will be a force to be reckoned with if the aging Marxists try to relive the past.
.....the spur to throw off an outdated feudal system and embrace the modern world.....
This is the main or primary theme of the twentieth century. All across the globe Kings and nobles were diposed. It was seldom peaceful. There are few left and they know their days are numbered. We can only hope that the transition of the Gulf States is accomplished in a peaceful manner.
Osama wants to duplicate Marx,Hitler,Mao and Saddam, all of whom hijacked a transistion..
I could get behind some sort of global cooperation with China if:
1) They became a democracy, and
2) They began to recognize the global threat of Islamism and worked with us to root it out.
I don’t see any of these things happening in the near term.
Sure they have “freedom” - just as long as the scholars don’t want the ability to freely use all the resources and communications ability of the Internet.
Multipolarity?
“There is nothing we can do to prevent it, there is nothing we should do to prevent it” Kissinger said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I guess, that means I need to get the red carpet out and roll it across our farm. Yep, it’s China through Hutchinson Whampoa partnered with Union Pacific that want to roll their train and tracks through our town....not the desert sands.
They, together, are bidding to build a huge deep sea port at Punta Colonet to bring in millions and millions of containers from Asia/China to come up the Canamex Corridor on trucks or trains.
Personally, I think, it is a recipe for disaster!!! And it is being done rather stealthily, even though the mantra is “transparency”.
Personally, I think, it is a recipe for disaster!!! And it is being done rather stealthily, even though the mantra is “transparency”.
We have to avoid candidates that are taken with the new world order.
They’re allowing their people more and more freedom, becoming a little more democratic.
I will respectfully disagree with you. They are still beating people to death for their religeous beliefs, there are no real property rights, and they limit internet access. The ruling class has no intention of giving up power and they are willing to do anything to keep it. Maybe a miracle could occur and we could have a different discussion ten years from now, but there needs to be meaningful change before we can safely consider them to be anything but sworn enemies.
bump
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.