War on Terror "absurd"

Dr Brzezinski ridiculed the concept of a global war on terror which has been at the centre of Bush administration foreign policy since 2001.

"The whole notion of a global war on terror was highly misleading. It's as if World War II in Europe had been called a war against Blitzkrieg and in Asia as a war against Kamikaze. It's an absurd term. Terror is a technique for killing people that small, isolated movements use as a substitute for the physical power they do not have."

"President Bush, just yesterday, again talked about terror as if it was the central strategic threat to American existence. For four years I was responsible for coordinating America's security response in the event of a nuclear war. If there was a war within six hours anywhere between 80 and 120 million Americans would be dead. That was a real security threat."

Obama a multilateralist

Dr Brzezinski predicted that the Obama administration would make significant changes to both the style and substance of United States foreign policy. He praised President-elect Obama as an internationalist who is "aware that in the 21st century we have to cooperate in order to be effective and that our destinies are linked in an interdependent relationship."

"He [Obama] has made it very clear that he is not going to pursue Bush's unilateralism which has been highly reliant on the use of military force. He's made it clear that he wants to engage in serious negotiations; with Iran for example."

Taiwan problem will be solved by history

Asked about Taiwan, Dr Brzezinski said the issue was a complication in Sino-US relations, but was not a source of current conflict. "Taiwan is a legacy of a period in history in which there was not only major conflict in China itself, namely the Civil war, but also between China and the United States back in the 1950s."

"When I discussed the issue with Deng Xiaoping back in 1978 we essentially agreed to disagree, but I also said at the time that I thought that history would resolve this issue rather than the use of force."

Dr Brzezinski recalled that not long before his 1978 trip to China there was an exchange of artillery fire between the mainland and islands held by the Taiwan authorities. "Today what is happening across the straits? There is a massive flow of people, goods and money that's transforming the relationship between the mainland and Taiwan fundamentally."

"It's really becoming de facto what Deng Xiaoping talked about – one country; two systems. I proposed at the time it should be one country – many systems, because you have Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, perhaps in the future even Singapore."

(China.org.cn by John Sexton and Zhou Jing January 13, 2009)