TEHRAN(Bazaar) – Professor Frank N. von Hippel, former assistant director for national security in the White House Office of Science and Technology, believes that Xi still thinks (and hopes) that the US is a declining power but China is having its own economic problems right now and centralized decision making is not working that well there while democracy is not working that well in the United States. We’ll know more later.
“It is possible that the US and China could war over Taiwan,” Professor Frank N. von Hippel told Bazaar News Agency.
Following is the text of the Bazaar interview with Professor Frank N. von Hippel.
Q: US President Joe Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco. What was the importance of this meeting?
A: Chinese officials had been refusing to talk to their US counterparts for more than a year since the previous US House Majority Leader Pelosi visited Taiwan.
Q: US President Joe Biden in this meeting announced: With the Chinese President regarding the expansion of cooperation in the fields of combating, we agreed on drugs, military relations, and artificial intelligence. What is the importance of cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence for the two countries?
A: I think that the subject was probably not having artificial intelligence make life-and-death decisions during a war. I don’t know how far they got in that discussion.
Q: A senior American official said by quoting Xi Jinping's words with Biden that China prefers to achieve ‘reunification’ with Taiwan through peaceful means, but in certain circumstances, we may also use force. What is your assessment of Xi's words about Taiwan? Do you think the Taiwan crisis will bring the two countries to war?
A: It is possible that the US and China could war over Taiwan. I think this meeting reduces that danger, at least temporarily.
Q: Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser of the White House, said before the meeting between the presidents of the United States and China: Biden believes that there is no substitute for face-to-face diplomacy to manage the complex relations between the two countries. We anticipate that the leaders will discuss some of the most fundamental elements of the US-China bilateral relationship, including the continued importance of strengthening open lines of communication and responsibly managing competition so that it does not devolve into conflict. What do you think of these remarks?
A: I agree with them.
Q: The President of China said in the meeting with Biden, “This planet can accommodate China and America (at the same time)”. Some believe that this statement proves that, contrary to some opinions, Beijing was not and is not following the decline and fall of the US. What is your assessment?
A: I think that Xi still thinks (and hopes) that the US is a declining power but China is having its own economic problems right now and centralized decision making is not working that well there while democracy is not working that well in the United States. We’ll know more later.
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