Henry Kissinger fears global military conflict due to US China trade war

Henry Kissinger fears global military conflict due to US China trade war. Former US secretary of state warned of it while speaking at at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Beijing.

Henry Kissinger fears global military conflict

Kissinger, 96, warned that the United States and China could trigger a global military conflict if they fail to resolve their trade war.

“If conflict is permitted to run unconstrained, the outcome could be even worse than it was in Europe,” he said.

He cited that World War I broke out because of a relatively minor crisis. But, today the weapons are more powerful.

The US and China have been engaged in a trade conflict for 18 months and have imposed billions of dollars of tariffs on each other’s goods.

Since early 2018, the administration of US President Donald Trump has pursued a deliberate policy of attempting to hurt China’s economy in response to concerns about the shifting balance of economic power and unfair trade practices.

The US and China are also engaged in a number of other disputes, including US naval operations in the South China Sea, and the US relationship with Taiwan, and US Congress support for protesters in Hong Kong.

However, Kissinger noted China and US major economic countries therefore they bound to step on each other’s toes all over the world.

Moreover, he also noted US rivalry with China has not escalated to the same level the United States had with the Soviet Union. But, US also don’t have forward negotiations to reduce the political conflict.

If the two sides keep seeing “every issue in the world in terms of conflict” with each other, it could be “dangerous for mankind”, he said.

When asked if the ongoing unrest in HongKong, a semi-autonomous region of China, could be the flashpoint for a new Cold War, Kissinger said he hoped the crisis would be “settled by negotiations.”

Kissenger served as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State under President Richard Nixon.

He also served as US secretary of state from 1973 until 1977 during the administration of former President Richard Nixon. The relationship between Nixon and Kissinger was unusually close.

Kissinger made two trips to China in 1971, the first of which was made in secret, to establish rapprochement between Washington and Beijing.