Foreign news

Path finder of China-U.S. ties: Zbigniew Brzezinski remembered by his son

Published

5 years ago

August 4, 2020

Path finder of China-U.S. ties: Zbigniew Brzezinski remembered by his son

In naming key American players who facilitated the normalization of China-U.S. ties in the 1970s, Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski’s name is sometimes omitted from the list. Yet his contribution was undeniable. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter in 1981, who said “his leadership has been instrumental in building peace and ending the estrangement of the Chinese and American people.”

Zbigniew Brzezinski passed away in 2017, but his legacy lives on in many forms and not least through his three children, one of whom is Mark Brzezenski, former U.S. ambassador to Sweden under the Obama administration.

During the 2019 China Development Forum in Beijing, CGTN host Tian Wei talked to Mark Brzezenski at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, where the elder Brzezenski had stayed at when he first came to China in May 1978.

During that visit, Brzezenski famously told then Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping that “the U.S. has made up its mind” regarding China-U.S. ties. Later that year, China and the United States made joint announcements that the establishment of official diplomatic relationships would occur on January 1, 1979.

Half a century later, Mark Brzezenski came to Beijing at a time when China had become the second largest economy in the world, a cause both for celebration and tension with the world’s largest economy. Ambassador Brzezenski said had his father been alive, he would be going on American television and explaining to people how the Sino-U.S. relationship benefits Americans.

“Because he (Zbigniew Brzezinski) believed so much in the Sino-U.S. relationship as having the potential to address some of the world’s great challenges of today and tomorrow. He really felt that this is the most important relationship America has with the world,” said Ambassador Brzezenski.

Brzezenski added that his father would have also come to China to meet with the Chinese leadership, reminding them that “it takes two to tango,” urging both sides to constructively engage each other.

Ambassador Brzezenski revealed that his father had a “very good personal relationship” with President Xi Jinping, and when his father passed away in 2017, his mother received a personal letter from the Chinese president.

Growing up in the Brzezenski household was an education in international relations. The elder Brzezenski would ask his children who were still at elementary schools about their views on topic such as the Middle East peace process. Some home lessons in diplomacy were even cinematic and historically significant. Ambassador Brzezenski recalled the home banquet his parents prepared for Deng Xiaoping when the Chinese leader visited Washington, D.C. in January 1979.

“Our street was closed off by the secret service, there were helicopters overhead, then Mr. and Mrs. Deng arrived in a long motorcade with police cars,” he recounted.

The young Brzezenski watched his parents encounter trouble with the fireplace in the house, having to change dinner to a different room, and his sister spill caviar on Deng Xiaoping. Mark Brzezenski said the experience was “very human” and he appreciated his father always including his family in his political life.

Zbigniew Brzezinski shared the world with his family – Europe, the Middle East, Asia. On a trip to China in July 1981, Brzezinski took his children to retrace part of the route of the Long March, visiting the site of the battle of Luding Bridge over the river.

No doubt thanks to their father’s influence, all three Brzezinski children are working in fields related to foreign policy and politics, with youngest daughter Mika Brzezinskia becoming a well known MSNBC journalist and talk show host.

Mark Brzezenski correctly foresaw the increasing range of China-U.S. conflicts. During the interview in 2019, he said he worried that “the demonization of China is just about trade.”

“I think that there is a demographic of policy people, security people, military people, political people who for decades have been hoping to break the catalyst of the American-Chinese relationship. Their time has come. They have been empowered by the current moment,” said Ambassador Brzezenski.

In the current political climate, he argued that expertise counts less than votes and money. As a result, people who are “part-time foreign policy guys join a presidential administration because they had helped the president campaign.”

“That’s the American political game. And as a result, you get what you ask for,” said Mark Brzezenski.

At a time when even moderate voices on China are getting marginalized, Ambassador Brzezenski recalled an earlier era when world-class experts like his father dominated the American foreign policy.

“During the Cold War, who led American foreign policy? Kissinger, Brzezenski, Scowcroft, Albright – people who were true foreign policy scholars and who had steeped their knowledge in foreign policy from the very beginning to the very end.”

World Insight with Tian Wei is an international platform for debate and intelligent discussion. It is the meeting point of both the highly influential and rising voices, facilitated by host Tian Wei. It provides nutrition to form your own thoughts and ideas through a 45-minute live debate and interviews.

Schedule: Monday-Saturday

Time (GMT): 1415, 2015

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com.

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Financing Health Futures: Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda Turn to Tobacco and Telecom Taxes in Big Push Against Malaria

Published

1 week ago

September 28, 2025

The Gleamer

African leaders, parliamentarians, health experts, and development partners have renewed their commitment to ending malaria by 2030, with a bold call for domestic financing through innovative taxation on tobacco, alcohol, and telecom services to close critical funding gaps.

The discussions took center stage at the Big Push Against Malaria: Harnessing Africa’s Role high-level political engagement in Abuja, where Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda showcased new homegrown financing strategies aimed at reducing dependence on dwindling donor support.

Africa’s Heavy Burden

Malaria remains one of Africa’s deadliest diseases. In 2023, the world recorded 263 million cases and nearly 600,000 deaths, with 94% of cases and 95% of deaths occurring in Africa. Nigeria alone accounted for 26.6% of global cases and 31% of deaths, according to the World Malaria Report 2024. Children under five remain the most vulnerable, making up 76% of deaths.

Despite progress — with Nigeria cutting malaria deaths by more than half since 2000 through insecticide-treated nets, preventive treatments, and the rollout of the new R21 malaria vaccine — leaders warned that global targets are off-track. The World Health Organization’s technical strategy for malaria (2016–2030) has stalled since 2017, with Africa unlikely to meet its 2025 and 2030 milestones without urgent action.

Taxing for Health Futures

The Nigerian Parliament’s Committee on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (ATM) announced plans to fund malaria elimination through “sin taxes” and telecom levies.

According to the House Chair on ATM, Hon. Linda Ogar, a bill is underway to restructure the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) into a multi-disease agency that will address HIV, TB, and malaria.

The new financing mechanism proposes:

Taxes on tobacco, alcohol, and other luxury items

Dedicated levies on telecom airtime and mobile money transactions

A percentage of the nation’s consolidated revenue

“These resources will provide sustainable funding to strengthen health systems and accelerate malaria elimination,” Ogar said, stressing that Africa must stop relying solely on foreign donors. “We cannot continue to take two steps forward and five steps backward. Africa must begin to show the world that we are ready to solve our problems ourselves.”

Similar models are already being piloted in Ghana and Uganda, where levies on mobile money and telecoms are being redirected to finance health interventions. The Abuja meeting urged other African countries to adopt this approach as part of a continental framework for sustainable financing.

Leaders Call for Urgent Action

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, emphasized that while malaria is preventable and treatable, it still kills hundreds of thousands yearly due to funding shortfalls, climate change, insecticide resistance, and humanitarian crises.

“To truly defeat this disease, we must rethink, join forces, and mount a concerted ‘Big Push’. Funding gaps remain a major obstacle, and innovative domestic financing is the way forward,” Salako declared.

From the civil society front, grassroots representatives pledged to act as “foot soldiers”, demanding that communities have a seat at the decision-making table. The World Health Organization, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Aliko Dangote Foundation, and other partners reaffirmed support but stressed the need for stronger political will and local ownership.

Private Sector and Global Support

Representing billionaire philanthropist Aliko Dangote, the Nigeria Malaria Council reiterated that private sector investment must complement government financing. Meanwhile, the Global Fund confirmed it has invested nearly $2 billion in Nigeria’s malaria response and committed an additional $500 million for 2024–2026, including support for local production of malaria drugs.

The Gates Foundation’s Uche Anaowu noted that while progress has slowed, malaria remains beatable:

“Smallpox is the only human disease ever eradicated. The question is — can malaria be next? I believe Africa has both the burden and the opportunity to lead the world in making that happen.”

Financing Health Futures: Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda Turn to Tobacco and Telecom Taxes in Big Push Against Malaria

Abuja, Nigeria – African leaders, parliamentarians, health experts, and development partners have renewed their commitment to ending malaria by 2030, with a bold call for domestic financing through innovative taxation on tobacco, alcohol, and telecom services to close critical funding gaps.

Africa’s Heavy Burden

Taxing for Health Futures

The Nigerian Parliament’s Committee on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (ATM) announced plans to fund malaria elimination through “sin taxes” and telecom levies.

The new financing mechanism proposes:

Taxes on tobacco, alcohol, and other luxury items

Dedicated levies on telecom airtime and mobile money transactions

A percentage of the nation’s consolidated revenue

Leaders Call for Urgent Action

Private Sector and Global Support

The Gates Foundation’s Uche Anaowu noted that while progress has slowed, malaria remains beatable:

“Smallpox is the only human disease ever eradicated. The question is — can malaria be next? I believe Africa has both the burden and the opportunity to lead the world in making that happen.”

The Big Push: From Talk to Action

Speakers acknowledged that Africa has hosted too many malaria meetings without concrete outcomes. This time, however, leaders insisted the Abuja gathering must mark a turning point — from dependency to self-reliance.

With Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda setting the pace on tax-based health financing, the continent now faces the challenge of replicating and scaling up these models.

“Now that Africa is at a critical point, the need for a Big Push against malaria cannot be overemphasized. If we align political will, innovative financing, and community engagement, we can end malaria within our lifetime.”

Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda are pioneering a shift from donor dependence to domestic revenue mobilization via tobacco, alcohol, and telecom taxes — a model hailed as central to financing Africa’s health futures and ending malaria by 2030
Speakers acknowledged that Africa has hosted too many malaria meetings without concrete outcomes. This time, however, leaders insisted the Abuja gathering must mark a turning point — from dependency to self-reliance.

With Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda setting the pace on tax-based health financing, the continent now faces the challenge of replicating and scaling up these models.

“Now that Africa is at a critical point, the need for a Big Push against malaria cannot be overemphasized. If we align political will, innovative financing, and community engagement, we can end malaria within our lifetime.”

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