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The King Of Diplomacy On China-US Relations.

By Dan Harris on Posted in Good People

I have always loved the television commercials where some cheesy guy wearing a crown (presumably the owner of the appliance store or whatever else it is that is being advertised) screams out the discounts you can expect to get by shopping at his store. If my memory serves me right, I’ve been witness to the King of Cars, the King of Discounts, and the Appliance King. John Grisham wrote a book called the King of Torts and who can forget Rupert Pupkin as the King of Comedy?
Like him or not, Henry Kissinger is the King of Diplomacy and he has a Washington Post op-ed out today, entitled, “Rebalancing Relations With China” (h/t China Hearsay, who also thinks highly of the op-ed) setting out how the United States should be dealing with China. And again, like him or not, the guy does know whereof he speaks and this is his own summary of what should be done:

While the center of gravity of international affairs shifts to Asia, and America finds a new role distinct from hegemony yet compatible with leadership, we need a vision of a Pacific structure based on close cooperation between America and China but also broad enough to enable other countries bordering the Pacific to fulfill their aspirations.

The King has spoken.
What do you think?

  • Stephan Larose

    These vagaries aren’t especially enlightening and certainly offer no details about how the aspirations of any countries are to be fulfilled in the kind of world Kissinger envisions for the future, one where the economic elite rule the poor with an iron fist.
    With regards to the most pressing issues we collectively face, namely massive shortages of fresh water, the depletion of animal protein sources, the ever-growing divide between rich and poor, global warming, elite control of global media and information, a privately controlled debt-based financial system and overpopulation, Kissinger can contribute nothing but the crap he eschewed when he had the C.I.A. overthrow democratically elected president Allende of Chile: transfer political and economic power to unaccountable corporations, seed them round the world, rape, then plunder.
    It would be best if he were tried for the multitude of crimes against humanity he’s responsible for and spare us the tedium of his lame “insight”.
    -An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.
    Plato

  • Falen

    Wishy washy types hates Henry Kissinger because he does not speak about dreamy superficial rhetoric(read: human rights, spreading democracy in China, T1b+t, FLG). Henry Kissinger is at exactly where the cold hard ugly realpolitik is, and I for one never get tired of his crystal clear assessments without the spins.
    This article is no different: nothing but the cold hard political reality on how either US or China can do to advance their own interests as well as the interests of both countries.

  • Da Xiansheng

    Kissinger: “Historically, China and America have been hegemonic powers able to set their own agendas essentially unilaterally. They are not accustomed to close alliances or consultative procedures restricting their freedom of action on the basis of equality.”
    Do I understand Kissinger correctly? Did the KISS-MAN just say that China is a hegemonic power?! Did he just “DIS” the Chinese?!

  • glen

    “Wishy washy types hates Henry Kissinger because he does not speak about dreamy superficial rhetoric(read: human rights…”
    I guess I am one of those terrible wishy washy types because I think basic human rights like access to clean water, sanitation, a generally safe & clean environment and food safety are important things. Whew, good thing these are all utterly irrelevant to long term political stability or economic success! What we need more of is cold, hard, concrete realpolitik about “shifting a center of gravity” and creating a “vision.” Add in a little dissertation involving “paradigms” and “seachange” and I am sure that all problems in the Pacific region will be solved forever. The end.

  • Falen

    Right… because it is simply more comforting to believe that it is those “good things” that’s predominantly driving policies, not the “realpolitiks”; as if people are simply driven to help the homeless down the street rather than purchasing bigger cars, houses, TVs, iPod, etc…
    Clean water, sanitation, safe/clean environment and food safety cost resources and expertise; resources and expertise that most people in the world don’t have. Things in the world are always elastic, one consumes as much clean water, clean environment or safe food as resource permits. And if they have no resources, they eat unsafe food, drink polluted water, and live in unclean environment.

  • robert

    @Mr. Da,
    Depends on your perspective. I read that as a compliment to the Chinese.

  • Kim Jong Il

    Remember when as part of his strategy for negotiating with the Soviet Union, Kissinger tried to convince the Soviets that President Nixon was an alcoholic madman who could attack Russia anytime in a drunken rage? (Of course, Nixon was a madman, but what can you do?)
    I bet that Kissinger’s telling the Chinese that they’d better “play ball” because the Americans have all gone off the deep end and may crash the US economy and the US dollar.

  • Stephan Larose

    Kissinger should be indicted for crimes against humanity, Christopher Hitchen’s book on matter is a good beginner but by no means a comprehensive catalog of his worst abuses.
    As for his “elucidations” they seem to be barely more than an aggregate of what plenty have said before, in fact, your average Joe could tell you the same – China will get bigger and America will have to deal with it (except without sending the CIA to overthrow the government and install a puppet dictatorship like in Chile, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran and dozens of others – oops, is mention of this aspect of American history the reason why my post was not allowed last time?). You don’t need a crystal ball to see that.

  • http://vitamincshow.com Anonymous

    The reality is that Kissinger will be lionized by future generations as a visionary statesman (that very word which is constantly bandied about to describe him by his consulting firm and all who pay his exorbitant speaking fees) and thinker, not as the plotting, frothing at the mouth, chewing the carpet, manipulative West Wing eminence grise which was his hallmark during the ’60s and ’70s first as the NSA to Nixon, then his Secretary of State.
    When the hoary old man gets in front of a podium in his croaking accent to deliver a speech on the state of the world, that — and that only — will be all the young people will see. Yes, those same young people who are too caught up in their own e-worlds, and who only know of the Vietnam conflict, Cambodian raids, and “shuttle diplomacy.”
    That’s why the he still gets all the cool sound bites.
    –ADM

  • chalmers wood

    Henry Kissinger should live and work for the rest of his life in Israel where his talents would be most useful.