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

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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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French Envoy Seeks Collaboration With NAN To Boost Seamless Relationship

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 The new French envoy to Nigeria, Marc Fonbaustier, on Wednesday called for collaboration with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) toward strengthening the mutually beneficial relationship between the two countries.


Fonbaustier, who is the French ambassador to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, made the call when he paid a courtesy visit to Malam Ali Muhammad Ali, NAN’s Managing Director, in Abuja.
The ambassador said that his purpose of visiting was to pay tribute to the MD, and to seek collaboration in three areas with a view to promoting stronger, seamless and fruitful partnership between both countries.


He added that Nigeria and its people were hospitable, especially to the foreigners and ambassadors alike.


He added that Nigeria was a country with so much energy, strength, stamina and so many talents.


In Nigeria, with the population of this size,  it is inevitable that the elites of the country are very outstanding, “and there may be a Franco/Nigeria moments now”, he jokes.


According to him, France and Nigeria can collaborate more and learn from each other.
“I could feel it particularly during the state visit of President Bola Tinubu which took place in November 2024.


“I was there and I could see the intensity, the strength and the scope of the partnership, and I am here to scale up that partnership in all sectors.


“I am coming here for three reasons, first, to pay a tribute to the NAN MD and his team for the quality of this agency. We can testify that the contents that you publish are very factual, and also very well set up and structured.


“You do fact checking and you really do try to provide the community with quality information. I think, as a French ambassador, I can recognise that as part of a living democracy,” he said.


The French ambassador said the second reason for the visit was to intimate the NAN MD of France’s eagerness to go on partnership with NAN saying he hoped for assurance of a seamless, fluid and easy relationship.


He said that his third reason stemmed from his observation that NAN recently signed some partnership framework agreements with Egypt and China, saying “it may be time to think of balancing this partnership with others”.


“Especially with French, and to talk with Agence France-Presse (AFP) to see if there’s ground for a closer relationship between NAN and AFP.


“Which is also a recognised agency like yours, and I bet you the sky will be the limit to the collaboration, ’’he said.


Responding, the NAN MD informed the envoy that the agency was African’s biggest news content provider on account of its size.


Ali gave the envoy a little details of the agency’s operation and its outreach, saying “as our continent’s biggest news content provider, we have offices nationwide and in selected African countries.


“We have offices in countries such as South Africa, Cote d’ivoire, Addis Ababa, and then we have offices also beyond the shores of Africa. We have in New York and we are the only resident wire service in the United Nations.


“At a time in the past, the agency had 11 foreign offices, including Moscow, and presently, we are trying to re-open some of our shut offices, especially in London.
“We value partnership and understanding that we have with similar news organisation such as Reuters and, incidentally, we have a long standing relationship with AFP which you just raised.
“I know for years we have exchange of news between NAN and AFP but it’s a cooperation that we will like to strengthen and with your greater involvement,’’ he said.


The MD commended the ambassador for reaching out and engaging with some Nigerians communities to douse the tension of the allegation made by the Nigeriens.


He also lauded the envoy’s leadership and visibility to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, “which has helped to douse the perception and misconceptions about France, especially in the Sahel”.
“I think you have helped to reverse some of this perceptions. I thank you for the kind words that you said about the agency and about our management.


“We also see partnership as an important tool in checking the spread of fake news.
“We’ve seen instances where fake news has done great deal of damage, and with the coming of social media it has done even greater damage.


“Our country is facing a lot of challenges, one of which is the increasing insecurity, and the social media has been used by those who do not want to see our country to prosper,” Ali said.
He further said that NAN was a credible news agency that always fact check to correct the wrong narratives by those who are in the business of causing troubles.


He also told the envoy that the agency has its content in the Nigerian indigenous languages, starting with Hausa and it would proceed to Yoruba and Igbo languages later, “then later in future to French.

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