NEW YORK: Veteran American diplomat Henry Kissinger has warned that the U.S. and China must come to an understanding on international affairs or risk “catastrophic” conflict that will benefit neither nation, according to media reports.
Speaking with former British Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt in a webinar organized by Chatham House, an independent policy institute headquartered in London, Kissinger said that “endless” competition between the world’s two largest economies risks unforeseen escalation and subsequent conflict, a situation made more dangerous by artificial intelligence and futuristic weaponry.
Kissinger, now 97, who served as both secretary of state and national security advisor under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, helped engineer Nixon’s historic opening to China, which was facilitated by Pakistan. He is also credited with thawing US relations with the Soviet Union.
At the same time, he has also been strongly criticized for his role in the disastrous Vietnam War and American interventions in South American nations to topple democratically elected leaders in favour of far-right dictatorships.
“If we don’t get to that point and if we don’t get to an understanding with China on that point then we will be in a pre-World War One-type situation in Europe, in which there are perennial conflicts that get solved on an immediate basis but one of them gets out of control at some point,” Kissinger said on Thursday.
“It is infinitely more dangerous now than it was then,” Kissinger said. He said the high-tech weaponry on both sides could lead to a very gave conflict. – Agencies
