।। Md Touhid Hossain ।।
Former US secretary of state and national security advisor Henry Kissinger had his 100th birthday in May this year. This made news in the media worldwide and many felicitated him on the occasion. The many ‘successes’ of his career were also recalled. He is regarded a legend in the realm of western diplomacy, security and academics. In fact, there are many within our country too who are more than impressed by his talent, diplomatic skills, successes and so on. His talent and knowledge are perhaps undisputed, but there is scope for doubt concerning his skills or his success.
From 1969 to 1977, Henry Kissinger had an all-permeating influence on US foreign policy. He was first the security advisor and then secretary of state. And from 1973 to 1975, he held both offices simultaneously.
Other than his contribution to establishing coexistence with the Soviet Union, a competitor in expanding world dominance, there are mainly three achievements on his success list. 1. Setting up ties with China to bring it to the US side during the US-Soviet rivalry in the Cold War. 2. Shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East. And, 3. The Paris peace plan aimed at withdrawing US troops from Vietnam.
I think that the biggest failure of the US intelligence agencies in the sixties and the seventies was their failure to predict that the Soviet Union was going to crumble in the next 20 years. It is not as if there were no signs. The Soviet economy could not support funding to their efforts to spread their influence around the world. The US did not really need China’s support to tackle Russia. As it is, China’s was hostile towards Russia due to a clash in 1969 over ownership of the river Ussuri. The two communist countries differed ideologically too. The US has no need to draw the poverty-stricken under-developed China to its side with huge concessions, simply to bring Russian dominance under control.
What China received in returned was epoch-making. After the Chinese revolution in 1948, the nationalist government of the Chinese republic headed by Kai-shek took refuge in Taiwan. For the next 23 years this government was considered by the UN as the representative of the China republic. Mainland People’s Republic of China remained outside of the UN. This certainly was an unfair system. After China-US relations were established, instead of the China republic, it was the People’s Republic of China that became, with US support, the representative of China in the UN, along with veto rights. The US recognized Taiwan as a part of China.
”With the creation of Bangladesh, Kissinger lashed out in vengeance for his defeat by dubbing the newly independent country as a “bottomless basket”.”
The US market was opened up to China. In June 1971, the US lifted its existing trade sanctions on China. Even after Kissinger exited the scene, the process he started remained in place. In 1980, China’s ‘Most Favoured Status’ was reinstated. Over the next 40 years, China used this market to successfully achieve unprecedented economic development. China’s exports to the US went from almost zero in 1971 to USD 18 billion in 1991 and USD 530 billion in 2021. With no objection from the US, China became a member of the World Trade Organisation in 2001. Based on purchasing power parity basis, China is now the world’s largest economy. And in the market exchange rate too, it is becoming the world’s largest economy in the near future.
Along with economic growth, there has come military capability and global influence and clout. Today China stands as the main competitor to US domination in the world. That that was possible because of US assistance which began back in 1970 at the behest of Kissinger.
One thing must be kept in mind and that is, China’s rise in the global scenario was inevitable. Other than US assistance, there were many determinants behind this rise. A disciplined and hardworking workforce, political stability, control on corruption, correct economic policy decisions –all these had contribution to this progress. US assistance had created a broad opportunity and China managed to use this opportunity with success. It would have taken China at least another 20 years to reach the position it is in today, some even say another 30 years.
Last month Kissinger visited China at their invitation. He was given a royal reception at Beijing. Other than Chinese ministers, he was received by the Chinese president Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People. Xi termed him as an “old friend” of China and recalled his contributions to relations between China and the US. There is hardly scope to differ from Xi’s words.
It was the people of Bangladesh who fell victim to the 1971 obsession of US with China. It was the Pakistan military junta that took up the primary task of diplomacy between China and the US. And in exchange, Henry Kissinger and the US administration at the time made no effort to halt the ongoing genocide in Bangladesh. On the contrary, they gave unconditional support to the perpetrators of genocide. In a broader sense, it was Kissinger’s Pakistan passion that pushed India into the Moscow sphere of influence.
With the creation of Bangladesh, Kissinger lashed out in vengeance for his defeat by dubbing the newly independent country as a “bottomless basket”. By cancelling the PL-480 wheat shipment, Henry Kissinger exacerbated the famine in Bangladesh, for which even more people died.
Such misdeeds of Kissinger were not limited to Bangladesh alone. While he was in office, on 11 September 1973 Chile’s elected president Salvador Allende was killed in a CIA-backed military coup and General Augusto Pinochet took over power. With a ‘go-ahead’ from Kissinger, the armed force in Argentina overthrew Isabelle Peron in 1976, starting off the nationwide ‘dirty war’. Kissinger lauded and supported Congo’s autocrat Mobutu Sese Seko. The list goes on.
The exit of the US from Vietnam in 1973 was much akin to their exodus from Afghanistan in 2022. In both cases, one would have to have a vivid imagination to be able to discern any traces of US success. Other than the return of prisoners of war, North Vietnam did not adhere to any of the Paris peace treaty clauses. With the military defeat of the US and North Vietnam, the divided Vietnam became one again.
The only success that Kissinger can actually claim is, after the Arab-Israel war, his shuttle diplomacy in drawing Egypt out of the enemy camp and making it a close friend and also the end to the Syria-Israel conflict. Israel benefited from this and this assisted them in stepped up oppression of the Palestinians. Peace did not return to the Middle East and neither was the US position consolidated there. It was from the Middle East that the 9/11 incident was carried out in the US.
There is a clear lack of fair dealings in Henry Kissinger’s lifelong career. But it is national interests that are the main determinants in diplomacy or international relations, not justice. But even by that yardstick, Henry Kissinger cannot be called successful. His immediate successes have hardly served US interests in the long run.
* Md Touhid Hossain is a former foreign secretary.
