There Can't Be Victor In US-China Rivalry Without Harming Humanity: Kissinger

While the United States and China view each other as technological and economic competitors, both sides must realise that a victor is not possible without risking the destruction of humanity.

- Grace Ho

They must move away from this posture towards attempting to mitigate disputes, former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore yesterday.

Hence, Tuesday’s virtual summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden is a “good beginning”, he added.

During a conversation moderated by Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait which Dr Kissinger attended virtually, he acknowledged that public opinion in the US has shifted towards seeing China as a rival.

But the world will be better off if it deals with pressing issues such as climate change, artificial intelligence (AI) and economic relationships in a mutually beneficial way, he said.

“Both the United States and China have to accept that major (technological) powers of comparable capacities must attempt to compose their differences to a level in which co-existence becomes not only possible, but essential.”