The United States will become isolated if Washington fails to balance its own interests with the needs of the global community, former US Secretary of State and prominent geopolitical figure Henry Kissinger said in a Thursday interview.
“In the present period, the debate had shifted to extremes in which there is an extreme theory of America first, which is applied on both sides, but in such a way that it focuses too much on American interests and not on global interests,” Kissinger said in an exclusive interview with Bloomberg.
“That is a challenge. But anyone who wants to conduct a serious American foreign policy must balance the two. Or America will become isolated.”
The Trump administration branded its foreign policy approach as “America First,” although the Biden administration has also pursued hard-line policies on a number of national security issues including and Washington’s approach to China and Russia.
The 100-year-old Kissinger, the last surviving member of the Nixon administration, served in a number of top security and diplomatic positions in the White House during the 1970s.
While Kissinger may have laid the groundwork to the eventual end of the Cold War, he is viewed as a “warmonger” by critics due to his role in the US-backed 1973 coup in Chile and US bombing of Cambodia, among other controversial decisions.
Touching on US-China tensions over Taiwan, Kissinger warned that a military conflict is a probability given the current direction of the bilateral relationship.
“On the current trajectory of relations, I think some military conflict is probable,” Kissinger said. “The current trajectory of relations must be altered.”
The former government official went on to state that it is presently up to both sides to step back from “the top of a precipice.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to visit Beijing from June 18-19. Blinken was set to travel to China earlier this year, but the top diplomat suspended the trip following the transit of an alleged Chinese surveillance balloon across the United States.
Russia’s Relationship With Europe Should Be Based on Agreement
Kissinger took the opportunity to also weigh into all topics regarding Russia, stating that Moscow should recognize that its relations with Europe should be based on agreement “and a kind of consensus.”
The official noted that if the ongoing Ukraine conflict is “properly” brought to a close, it would lay the foundation for making such a feat “achievable.” Kissinger further stated it is important for Ukraine to be preserved and to emerge from the conflict as an autonomous, strong and democratic country.
Most Europeans are in favor of maintaining relations with Russia once the Ukraine conflict is over in a negotiated peace, and some believe their countries should “have a fully cooperative relationship” with Moscow, a policy brief of the European Council on Foreign Affairs showed last week.
Respondents were asked to imagine that the Ukraine conflict ends in a negotiated peace and describe the relationship they think their country should have with Russia afterward.
Since the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, the countries of the collective West imposed comprehensive sanctions against Russia resulting in an unprecedented cooling in their relations.
