The New Kissinger Institute: Score One for the China Lobby

Thursday July 31, by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

I have been traveling for the past two weeks but am back in Taiwan and there is plenty to write about. First on the horizon is a blurb from Xinhua Agencies announcing that the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars inaugurated on July 29, the Kissinger Institute for China and the United States Relations. Before anyone shouts Hallelujah, there are basic questions that need to be asked.

The blurb--WASHINGTON

Nearly 40 years after then US secretary of state Henry Kissinger's landmark visit to China in 1971, an institute bearing his name and dedicated to promoting US-Chinese relations was inaugurated in Washington Tuesday. "China and America no longer have a common enemy, but a common opportunity," Kissinger said in a speech at the launch of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States. "An adversarial relationship between the United States and China is unfortunate for the whole world; positive relations are beneficial to everybody," said Kissinger, whose secret visit to China in 1971, when he met with Chinese premier Zhou Enlai, marked the beginning of a rapprochement between the two countries. "China and the United States have an opportunity to help lead the world on common policies," he said. The aim of the Kissinger Institute will be to improve American knowledge about China and Chinese knowledge about the United States, mainly through academic exchanges, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars research institute, which houses the institute, said in a statement. The institute would help to "inspire more people to join in the worthy cause of advancing China-US relations and strengthen the voice of those calling for stronger relations between China and the United States," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Yiechi said. "Dr Kissinger is himself an institution," Yang added. "He will go down in history as a man who charted the course of the Chinese-US relationship, which brings benefits to so many of us," he said. Xinhua Agencies.

For starters what kind of benefits are we talking about?

Certainly Kissinger's actions have never been beneficial to everybody. As a matter of fact the case can be made that whatever benefits they may have produced for the wealthy and elite have been far outweighed by the pain and suffering brought to many lesser ranked individuals. Chile, East Timor, Taiwan etc. immediately come to mind. The one thing that Kissinger and the leadership of China share in common is that their primary interests are material gain and power. They are Machiavellians who believe that the end justifies the means, no matter what. That never bodes well for the world.

Who are the scholars that will be exchanged?

At face value, the Institute sounds like a mutual admiration society between the panda huggers in the United States and the propagandists from China. Only those with a favorable impression of Kissinger and China need apply.

What is the common opportunity that the Institute will provide?

Wealth and exploitation are the first things that come to mind. For many, Kissinger's historic trip to China was a historic sellout in true Kissinger style. It wasn't his first and it hasn't been his last.

Who is putting up the money for this Institute? And who will benefit most?

This too needs examining. I am sure all the China lobbyists in the USA and their beneficiaries are ecstatic over the inauguration of the Kissinger Institute. I can imagine the panda huggers are already lining up for their free trips to China

Bottom line, the Kissinger Institute is a gift horse whose mouth and/or mouthpieces certainly bear looking into.