Hi im Steve Clements and i have a question or china in the United States headed for a new cold war or is it going to be a hot war lets get to the bottom line. The downward spiral began years ago but in the last few days it has really sunk to new lows following a pattern of kneejerk tip for tat ism washington just shut down chinas consulate in texas last week and in response beijing shutdown americas consulate in chengdu thousands of chinese watched as the u. S. Flag was lowered from that former diplomatic post as part of americas full court press secretary of state mike pompei of gave a speech asking the world one park with it on a new cold war with china the 2 countries already have a trade war theyve got new travel restrictions on each other and theyve been banning each others journalists among other escalation so what do we go from here from a strategic risk. One of the right smart moves that america should be making joining me now is the president of the council on Foreign RelationsRichard Haass who has served many u. S. President s in the past and is a prolific writer on global issues and u. S. Foreign policy hes just finished a new book designed to help bolster the literacy of americans about the world beyond their shores appropriately titled the world good to be with you Richard Richard you recently wrote a critique of secretary might pompei o s speech at the Nixon Library and in it you said he misunderstood history he misunderstood what nixon and kissinger were trying to do with china at that time tell us more. Good to be with you steve the secretary of state suggested that the engagement policy which china had there because it did bring about a trainer that was more open and liberal politically or economically and what i argued is that was never the intention that was never the girl the policy aim to change Chinese Foreign policy to work with china and enemy of the soviet union and in fact it succeeded we won the cold war on terms even enough to miss would have difficulty coming up with. But isnt it partially true that in later steps like bringing china into the World Trade Organization bringing it into various International Institutions the thought would was that those institutions would liberalize it but if there was some who had arrived to what was overly optimistic view of what to expect once we brought china into those institutions i also think that we made certain mistakes that after china was brought into the w i dont think we adjusted the terms of their membership as chinas economy began to grow a china became more integrated and in the world were treating them as a developing country when we ought to have been we ought to have been more demanding but again i still thought that the basic thrust of the policy which is more traditional was to influence Chinese Foreign policy and the whole idea was to embed them in arrangements in the region so that among other things they wouldnt be tempted to use military force to change the status of taiwan or to change the situation in the South China Sea and my Army Minister for 4 decades of policy largely works well right now it seems that donald trump is very fixated on china now we are a few months a month just before an election in the United States and i remember when barack obama and mitt romney were running against each other they talked every other day about china being a currency manipulator and that caught in the complications and problems china was creating in the world is this a lot of election posturing or do you think theres something deeper and more real in President Trumps posturing on china. The short answer to your question is yes its both i do think to some extent its a lecture and posturing there has been an attempt to in some ways blame china. For recent problems including the and and china ought to be criticized harshly very speedy havior early on though i think once the band them a reach to our shores the the responsibility is our own through what weve done or more or for what we what we have into the taking a step back i think would be wrong to dismiss the many of the problems in us chinese relations simply as a byproduct of the american political calendar and that after november theyre going away i dont think so i think the problems are real and theyre going to be challenging either for president or for president help indeed this might seem counterintuitive to some people watching this might be slightly more difficult for President Biden in the sense that hes unlikely to be as preoccupied as President Trump with these narrow trade deals about expanding american exports to china so i dont think the United States under a president by and im to speak from obviously but if it were to happen i dont think china simply agreeing to high or low in agricultural or manufacture would make a big difference well i want to get to hong kong as you just mentioned for a moment but you said something that really stands out to me you dont see even if theres a change in leadership in the United States any easy snap back going back to a different kind of u. S. China relationship. No i think this is now and its some way its imbedded structurally in the bilateral relationship but also if you read the sorts of things that people advise him by spreads and by them have been writing in saying magazines like ours and in Foreign Affairs its not as though this represents a soft on china perspective to the to the contrary a lot of the people who seem to have Vice President s and vice President Bidens ear have been consistently tough on china over Human Rights Concerns that we use more on repression in the country as i tell people in china you you shouldnt just attribute this to the President Trump or to or to the American Election this is out there its real theres a degree of bipartisanship here where i think though there could be a big difference is though in a President Bidens if it comes to that his willingness to forge a common relationship with the American Allies in europe and in asia and actually i think that has a bit of an upside promise to put more pressure on china and you mentioned hong kong a minute ago let me play you a clip of something President Trump said on hong kong. But thats between hong kong and thats between china because im going as a body gyda dot the deal with that themselves they dont need advice. Now lets listen to secretary pompei oh on hong kong indeed we have a nato ally of ours that hasnt stood up in the way that it needs to with respect to hong kong because they fear beijing will restrict access to chinas market. This is the kind of timidity that will lead to historic failure and we cant repeat it we cannot repeat the mistakes of these past 2 years so we have 2 leading members of this Administration One the president the other secretary of state saying diametrically opposed views on hong kong so i want to get back to your point about what are we to make of these mixed signals when it comes to china when it comes to allies you know are they with us are they against us those kinds of issues. Well separated to 2 areas one is the very mixed signals about u. S. Indifference to what china did either in hot com or against the weavers john boltons book as you know basically has the president giving the chinese a free ride to do pretty much what they want to their own citizens even gross violations of human rights its one of the reasons that some of this criticism now by the secretary of state seems like too little too late and the fact that its just aimed at china i dont see equivalent criticism of russia or the are other countries which always say a criticism on these grounds again makes it look quite opportunistic rather than principle and again in the secretary of state speech this the way you discuss germany this kind of. Back of the hand to to then thats not my experience the way to bring about Alliance Cooperation be against china or anybody else and this is ministration and what was its 1st big farm policy decision when i came into office was not to join the Transpacific Partnership that would have put us together with countries representing at least another 2025 percent of global g. D. P. We then together could have gone to china and say hey you want to access to our markets heres the economic standard youre going to have to meet in terms of trade in terms of respecting intellectual property what have you so its very hard for the ministration now to be saying were robust on china when in all sorts of ways it chipped away opportunities over the years to do and be just. You know one of the other points that you raise in your critique is that america seems to be putting up barriers complaining but not necessarily moving in to fixing problems as youve just said not necessarily finding allies to fight common purpose with you know whether its Climate Change or wa way you worked with everyone in Foreign Policy and do they not see this. Look i mean when i met with then candidate trump during the campaign and we talked about the world about american Foreign Policy and one of the things i came away with is that he really has a a negative view towards ours rather than seeing them as our owners rather than seeing them as a force multipliers rather than seeing them as a structural advantage so the United States who tends to see them as free riders who tends to see them as economic competitors and what i really think this is ministration needs is to a different view i dont mind the put a fundamental change in their take on what partners and allies are and that we have to be willing to do things with them rather than to them and we just cant insist they work with us against china or anybody else rather weve got to consult with them come up with a common thrust then maybe an uncertain face as we put aside some of our economic differences because we have this greater priority im going up with a common front on china thats what strategy is all about was part of our usual act in a disciplined way and i should please dont see us doing that no youre not only someone focused on guns and militaries and you know the classic you also spent particularly your new book which id love to get into you talk about you know economics and the Global Financial order and to certain degree most of the people that i know that a focus on u. S. China Relations Just like we used to talk about japan say their economic interdependencies that are really profound between these 2 countries and that you just cant on table them without staggering costs and so what is your take on the economic dimensions and you see things like the reserve currency status of the dollar threatened in a collision like i think someone in this town in washington with china today. Here is a couple of big issues i think the idea that the United States and china could quote unquote. Totally divorce i think is simply not on chinas to present too many places the us chinese economic relationship is too elaborate and too expensive the real question is could and should we ensure in select areas distance ourselves particularly areas say of High Technology and i think the area and the answer there is maybe but again not to use a famous strategic saying you cant beat something with nothing so if you want to encourage others not to opt into a chinese led 5 g. System you need to have and then have an american or American European or American European japanese south korean alternative or right now at least there isnt one but of what seems to be the goal is not a total divorce on the other hand its not a total marriage which china what i think is we need something a little bit more in the in the gray area and i think thats possible you raise a 2nd issue though which is the role of the dollar and that depends on lots of things but it depends on american competence and perceptions of it depends upon the fact that america want to approach its handling of the dollar just not now really what will think about d its implications for the rest of the world and i think combination of our incompetent response to that at times or weaponize ing the dollar through various sanctions running up this enormous debt i think all this and more has raised questions about the dollar so i dont think this is the sort of thing that ends in a day but i do think gradually you did to see probably on an accelerated timeframe the emergence of various not so much alternatives. They would coexist with the 1. 01 question is whether china makes its currency much more convertible is the question the euro question of yen question crypto currency is but i think the era where the dollar was pretty much the only game in town i think where were just were probably at the beginning of the end and with that United States could lose a lot of influence and could find its own. War economic revolt horrible on the implications or consequences of its own Economic Policy and some. I mean as a planner who has helped guide us Foreign Policy through so many hinge points after the you know the fall of the berlin wall after you know many other times this must be a time thats frustrating for you when you see a kind of diminishment of American Power in the world. Well i do and i worry about it i dont think its warranted and i dont see a substitute coming about you know be one thing if the United States was dialing down and there was Something Better we and others were putting in its place but i dont see that i think the alternative to a world that is led by the United States working with will be a world thats much less organized i think it would be to the detriment of the United States and everybody else and whats so frustrating to me steve is i expect that might be to you because i dont think theres cost savings in this whole mindset that American Leadership costs us more than the benefits us is just simply wrong its not borne out by the facts or or by history and as we learned on 911. 00 as were learning now with over 19 we cant insulate ourselves from the world so even if we we show this and we should be doing more here at home i get it were going to have to deal with the 10s of millions of unemployed in our Health Problems and our race problems but the worlds not going to say ok you americans go sort out your domestic problems and come back when youre ready well just you know well park it well wait you history doesnt work that theres no pause we have got to Pay Attention to the world at the same time we Pay Attention to our domestic problems or the world will deteriorate and that will actually make it even tougher for us to deal with our domestic challenges so i worry about the dynamics some of this began under the Previous Administration which recluse or signs of it in the middle east but were seeing it really accelerate now the word i constantly use abdication weve really pulled back in a in a dramatic way and i worry because when i look at the sweep of history and i look at the last 7075 years the post world war 2 era i think this is been an extraordinary wrong not just for the United States but for the world no great power conflict and incredible increases in wealth and standards of living billions of people brought out of the average lifespan of around the world as a. Produced by in some cases its democracy is far worse than many places around the world so for me to bring to do anything in the hastens the end of this order which the United States had so much to do with bringing about and sustaining i really think short sighted would be understand the book youve just written the world is is very interesting and im one of the many thousands of people who read all of your books i really appreciate your willingness to share with us your insights about Global Affairs and the tectonics of the system that were in but i guess when i watch donald trump beat Hillary Clinton when i would go to oklahoma and kansas and texas talk to my relatives they have this sense it was a joke in new york and d. C. But they have this sense that america had fought the cold war and china had won that the benefits to them of being internationally gauge were more problems in cost than they were benefits and you began to see people particularly military families who had generations of military Service Begin to kind of reject Global Affairs youve now written this book called the world. To try to bolster the literacy of those folks and to tell them but tell us about the book and why why you did it. The reason i did it is i thought that too Many Americans didnt understand why the world matters didnt understand the costs and benefits of American Bombing in the world you can graduate from virtually any of our great universities and not learn any of the subjects theyre offered but theyre not required for students to take before they graduate and we really dont cover these issues in any depth on our on our news programs nightly news program and on television the internet does have this information the problem is us tons of other information and in the internet doesnt come with a little stick a little note saying read this but not but not that im worried me is that most americans didnt understand and many cases the importance of the world and the costs and benefits of american involvement in the world that would be too willing to simply walk away from it were seeing signs of change signs of that and not what i think is the benefits have and continue to largely worth the cost in terms of american involvement which is not to say we havent made mistakes and i think we overreached in places like iraq and afghanistan and that fed this narrative that the world is simply an expensive dangerous place thats not worth that but the real danger now is not american overreach its american underage and what i want to do is write a book that basically makes 2 points the world matters isolationism it is folly and 2nd of all that theres nothing we can do better in the world by ourselves than we can do with others there is a case for for multilateralism obviously it has to be smart weve got to be creative but my argument is that to make americans more aware about the world in parchin when they go vote say this november they look at what the candidates are saying because whoever they do make president or whoever they make a senator or congressman these people are going to have tremendous influence over what the United States doesnt know which in turn will affect the world which will then tremendous impact on the lives of americans so my goal was essentially to write a book that may be made these connections. Well i think were all grateful for that you know when you look at libya today and you see russia now operating in libya which was and would have been an unthinkable a few years ago im interested in what you think is going to unfold and in that region or other regions the well are we just going towards chaos. Or do you see Something Else out there like i wish i could give you enough the mystic answer but the middle east has been is and quite likely will be the most turbulent part of the world right now things could get worse given the situation with iran given the challenges in egypt and in saudi and saudi arabia i dont see any the prerequisites in the middle east of stability or progress by virtually every measure you havent decided is whats what whats whats if you will the goldilocks solution whats neither too much nor too little and i think thats a debate that were quietly having in this country were having a little bit about afghanistan about syria about American Forces in iraq and what could you know what could drive this in many ways is also what is around and what is the United States to describe or just basically come to conclude is tolerable or is not so you know yeah there might be a lot of americans who want to be done with the middle east but the middle east is not done with the United States to i think were going to be involved here deeply for years to come but a lot of the details yet to be have yet to be. Determined by the United States. Richard i would be remiss if i didnt ask you one more question again related to a different book you once wrote in that book you basically argued that u. S. Foreign policy was directly linked to the domestic economic and social conditions of a country its hard to imagine a bigger mess than in the United States today with 44000000 people unemployed you know racial divides in the nation and a pandemic hitting as sort of 3 tsunamis at the same time and so i just want to ask you to reflect on the domestic sources of Foreign Policy which you got at that we got to fix this stuff that you said it years ago. That was not heeded and so i just kind of remember that book and say wow if only everyone had read Richard Haass but tell me your thoughts right now on this moment where our domestic you know set of conditions are pretty horrible. Thank you for raising it the book was Foreign Policy begins at home and youre right the immediate situation depend on the 10s of millions of unemployed the racial divide whoever wins this election is going to inherit all of that and that will clearly demand a lot of our attention but i think youre also getting at something deeper even beyond those 3 things we have all sorts of other domestic challenges weve got the challenge of a Public Education system that is not educating most americans and your only well we have an infrastructure that is truly. Truly inadequate we dont spend enough federal money on basic research our immigration system makes no sense were not attracting and keeping the most talented people in the world who want to who want to surrender now the biggest threat to our competitiveness in many ways is ourselves and if were going to from you know we began this conversation talking about china and the answer to a successful relationship and china i would argue is not keeping china down thats beyond our capability the chinese will determine their own trajectory what we need to do though is determine our own trajectory and we need to make the United States more competitive and deal with all these domestic challenges weve got this National Security at the end of the day is has both the Foreign Policy dimension and domestic image its a coin with 2 sides and we wont be able to have the resources to succeed in the world to present a 2nd successful model to the world unless we get it right here at home and unless we get it right here at home americans will have an appetite to be heavily involved in the world so again whoever wins this election and you can choose anything when you run for president one thing you can choose is your inbox and you got to whoever wins is going to inherit a daunting inbox everything from china to Climate Change to north korea to iran to venezuela and war around the world and in america. As you correctly say challenge widens immediate issues like the like unemployment like racism as well as issues like our Health Care Problems and our educational problems our infrastructure problems this is going to be one of the most critical errors in our history really for arms fire history well Richard Haass president of the council on Foreign Relations and author of the book that you should all read called the world thank you so much for joining us these are defining times for america and the world as Larry Summers and others have said this feels like a big hinge point in history and were very grateful for your time and insights thank you so much who to be with you steve so whats the bottom line dont believe the hype the tension between the worlds 2 biggest economies is not about ideology its all about power rising powers will always challenge dominant powers and unfortunately america is just shooting itself in the foot and making it easier for china by quitting many of the global institutions that it created and doing little to stay friendly with its friends so its no wonder that china looks stronger in the eyes of many when we look to the future america is still number one in a lot of areas but its isolating itself and its just diminishing in fading on the world stage faster than most americans know and that is the bottom line. 10 years ago a mining disaster in chile trapped 33 men the world watched as a 2 month rescue turned new tragedy into a miracle aljazeera revisits the men once celebrated as National Heroes and asks how this ordeal changed their lives chilean miners after the rescue on a jersey. On counting the cost the wealth of banks Prime Minister doesnt carry because built on the backs of slaves how much has britain now and reparations album pandemic could wipe out latin americas hodder and social and economic gains plus wild cards missing billions counting the cost on aljazeera. Beyond going fight between donald trump and the golden state because of drones philosophy he used in the everybody joins the conflict with belfour and exposes contrasting ideologies on immigration the environment economic and cultural issues trump is calling attention to the failure of the blue state model the key battlegrounds for the 2020 alexian people in power reports on trump places california on aljazeera we need to stand the differences on the similarities of cultures across the world so no matter what you see with the news and Current Affairs that matter to you. Your child is there with me so raman and holler. And of our top news stories hong kongs leader kerry has postponed septembers legislative election for a year dealing a major blow to the prodemocracy camp opposition politicians had been expecting the move which they say amounts to a power grab by beijing so you cannot get good thing the announcement i have to make today is the most difficult decision ive made in the past 7 months the legislative counsel general election is held every 4 years it is really a tough decision to delay it but we want to ensure fairness we want to ensure Public Safety and health