U.S.-China tensions have been called a repeat of Cold War-era dynamics. But a more apt comparison may be the years preceding World War I, when much of Europe was sitting on a powder keg of hostilities and overlapping territorial claims that required only two bullets to ignite. The difference now is that the great rivals have access to nuclear weapons, and with artificial intelligence they could be on the cusp of creating another tool that could wipe out mankind, according to former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
The U.S. and China represent the “greatest dangers to peace right now” if their animosities escalate to a military confrontation, Kissinger said in an interview with The Economist published Wednesday. The two countries are heading toward a major confrontation, he said, as both nations have “convinced themselves that the other represents a strategic danger.”
