Dr. Henry Kissinger: Rethinking America's global policies

Henry Kissinger was the United States' secretary of state from September, 1973 until January, 1977, and Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs from 1969-1975. Honored by many awards, Dr. Kissinger is a Nobel Peace Prize winner and the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award. He is presently the chair of Kissinger Associates, Inc., an international consulting firm.

CNN: Good morning Dr. Kissinger and welcome to CNN.com newsroom.

HENRY KISSINGER: I'm delighted to be here, and I'll do my best to answer your questions.

CNN: Your new book is called "Does America Need a Foreign Policy?" Why did you decide to write this book now?

KISSINGER: Because with the turn of the century, and with such a change in the international environment, I thought I would try to make a contribution to explaining how I viewed these changes, and the direction American might go.

EXTRA INFORMATION • Bush in Europe   • G8 Summit: Genoa 2001

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Dr. Kissinger, what is the foreign policy America needs? Can you outline it?

KISSINGER: That's a very good question. We have been used to thinking there is one foreign policy that you can apply to every part of the world, but the reality of the world in which we live is that different regions are in a different state of development about foreign policy. For example, in Europe and the Western Hemisphere, the governments, almost all of them are democratic, and military conflicts between them are almost inconceivable. And the problems there are economic and social, except for some ethnic conflict at the fringes of Europe. But in Asia, the various states look at each other as political and geopolitical rivals. War is not impossible, and therefore in that region we have to pay more attention to balance of power and equilibrium. In the Middle East, the conflict is more ideological and religious, and there the conflicts take on a much more emotional character.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Have U.S. efforts to resolve the Middle East conflict been effective to date? Should the U.S. do more to ensure calm in the region?

KISSINGER: The United States has played a major role, but it sometimes has made mistakes by not understanding the nature of the conflict. For example, last year, President Clinton attempted with very high motives to bring about a permanent settlement. But a permanent settlement in the Middle East involves so many religious and deep-seated emotions, that the most extreme elements had a focal point around which to rally. So, the interest was the present intense conflict in the region. Therefore, when we go back to negotiations, we should strive for practical arrangements of coexistence, rather than sweeping attempts like last year.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Dr. Kissinger, Does President Bush command enough respect in the eyes of the world to positively effectuate U.S. foreign policy goals?

KISSINGER: Whenever a new president comes in, people that are used to the previous president wonder if he has the capacity, and this was the same point that was made when President Clinton came in. Also, for that matter, when President Reagan came in. I think President Bush has been very successful on his foreign trips.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Should we continue the two-China policy, especially in light of China's hosting the Olympics?

KISSINGER: No, the official policy of the United States in every administration since relations were restored in 1971 has been a one China policy. Every administration, Democrat or Republican, has asserted that it supports a one China policy, and that will be continued in the Bush administration as well.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Will the emergence of China be strong enough to create a 'United States' in Asia?

KISSINGER: Asia is the most populous region of the world. It has a huge variety of cultures, and I think a United States of Asia is extremely improbable, unless a nation tries to impose it by force, and then the United States would be obliged to resist.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Dr. Kissinger, the title of your book leads me to think America doesn't have a foreign policy. What do you mean it doesn't?

KISSINGER: I think the United States had a sort of fragmented foreign policy of trying to calm things down, which is a good objective, but not something that has a long-range perspective in all respects.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Do you see America as overall resisting the international wave towards globalization?

KISSINGER: The United States is a great advocate of globalization, and in the places where it has been practiced, like the relations with Mexico, it has done an enormous amount of good.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: What should the international community do about the Taliban government?

KISSINGER: The Taliban government is a hotbed of terrorism in the region, and it is the place where bin Ladin, one of the principal organizers for terrorism, has found refuge. On the other hand, it is very difficult in Afghanistan to use military force, as others have learned, so it has to be isolated to the greatest extent possible.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: In your book, Mr. Kissinger , you say the U.S. has everything to gain from strengthening its bilateral relations with Mexico, Brazil and Argentina while at the same time carrying out an intensive diplomacy to bring both NAFTA and Mercosur into a Western Hemisphere free trade area. Do you see this as a feasible accomplishment during the Bush administration?

KISSINGER: I think it is a feasible accomplishment, especially if President Bush is given the fast track negotiating ability, which every president had until 1994, but wasn't renewed by the Congress in 1994.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Do you think Japan's status as the economic locomotive in Asia would be taken over by China for sure?

KISSINGER: I think China has grown at an enormous rate, 8 percent a year on an average for over 20 years. No nation has ever done that before. At the same time, I think Japan for the next 20 years is likely to be the more powerful economy.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Dr. Kissinger, what do you think of globalization? Would that affect the strength of the U.S.?

KISSINGER: I think the United States has up to now been the primary beneficiary of globalization, and has the strongest competitive position of any other. So far, they've been the greatest beneficiary.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Dr. Kissinger, do you think, with the position the United States currently holds, that President Bush's missile defense plans will be effective in deterring any aggression directed at the U.S.?

KISSINGER: I think President Bush's missile defense program answers two issues. Issue one is that the president of the United States cannot say he will leave the American people totally undefended, if there is a technology that can at least limit any damage, and maybe prevent it altogether. Secondly, I think it can also provide additional security against countries like Iran or North Korea that are developing nuclear capabilities.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Are protests against meetings like the WTO and the G8 summit a new thing or merely something akin to the student protests of the 1960s?

KISSINGER: Some of the demonstrators are raising important issues, namely the political and social consequences of economic development, as people move from the countryside to the cities. These are issues that deserve discussion. The message of some of the demonstrators of violence damaged the cause of the thoughtful members of these groups.

CNN: In your book's conclusion you say that America must learn to recognize what it must do, what it would like to do, and what it simply can't do. Can you elaborate?

KISSINGER: We attempted to try to solve every problem in the world, out of a sense of moral obligations, and attitudes, and our history. But no country can solve every problem without exhausting itself. Therefore, we have to establish priorities, along the lines of the question.

CNN: Thank you for joining us today, Dr. Henry Kissinger.

KISSINGER: Thank you. I enjoyed it.

Dr. Henry Kissinger joined the CNN.com newsroom via telephone from New York. CNN provided a typist. The above is an edited transcript of the interview on Tuesday, July 31, 2001.