Kissinger calls for China, US roles in world order
- By Guo Yiming
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E-mail China.org.cn, November 2, 2015
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| Dr. Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary of State and an old friend of China, gives a speech on China’s role in building world order at the CITIC International Forum in Beijing on Oct. 31, 2015. [Photo by Guo Yiming/China.org.cn] |
Dr. Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary of State and an old friend of China, emphasized that China has an essential role to play in establishing an inclusive world order, and that the world's two powerhouses need to increase mutual understanding in order to meet new challenges, according to his speech at the CITIC International Forum in Beijing on Oct. 31.
In defining China's role in world order, the 92-year-old Noble Peace Prize Laureate said that "nobody can know today of what that role could be, but everybody can know today that it has to be established."
Looking back on modern history, especially the two world wars, Dr. Kissinger reviewed the harsh truth that world order needs to be an inclusive one. If it remains exclusive, conflicts may occur as dissatisfied countries might prefer to use force rather than peaceful means.
He stated that we are now in a unique period, a period of revolutionary changes. "Europe, which dominated the world for 200 plus years, organized a system unique to Europe with clearly-defined orders run by legal principles," said Dr. Kissinger, stressing the absence of Asia and the Middle East in establishing world order. "But no countries in the developing world have organized in the same way."
Three major trends in China
As an old friend of China, this former US National Security Advisor's secretive trip to China in 1971 put an end to more than two decades of diplomatic rupture between the two nations.
During the past 45 years of contact with China, Kissinger said he had identified three major trends.
According to him, the first period started with Chairman Mao in achieving independence and unification of the country, which was followed by the period of reform as China entered the international system. The third period features enormous changes which have been expressed in the two centenary goals. One is expected to be fulfilled in 2021 and another in 2049, marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the People's Republic of China respectively.
"When those targets are met, there will be no country in the world stronger than China," said Dr. Kissinger. "But China will also not be strong enough to dominate the world, nor does it want to do so."
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