The China-US freeze-up in Alaska

The read-out of the high-ranking diplomatic meeting between the US and China in Alaska's capital city, Anchorage, opens up the possibility of a new style of cold war. It should be called the deep-freeze war. There was no let up in the insults thrown by both sides. Basically, for the world to get on and stay safe, Washington and Beijing, and to a lesser extent, Moscow, need to have a constructive, adult, pragmatic relationship so that where agreements can be reached they can be achieved without hostility or brinkmanship or ultimatums. Like on climate change. If Beijing and Washington are not talking sensibly together, the chances of finding solutions to the climate nightmare we face in the future will diminish. Likewise North Korea. If Washington can't talk to Beijing about restraining North Korea's nuclear programme, let alone eliminating it, Kim Jong-un will just do what he wants and build more and more nuclear bombs. The Alaska diplomatic farce was an embarrassment. It achieved nothing but angry words. Both teams returned to their capitals in a hostile mood. We need another Henry Kissinger to sort this one out. Perhaps Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, will pick up the phone and have a chat with Kissinger who in his 90s definitely still has all his marbles. Talking to the Chinese government has never been easy but there must be better ways than sounding off at each other across a table in Anchorage. Not impressive.