Donald Trump is 'surprisingly' good at foreign policy, according to former Australian prime minister Paul Keating.
Mr Keating stated the United States was directionless under the previous three administrations and Barack Obama blew an opportunity to reshape the world.
On Friday Mr Keating stated he had not expected Mr Trump to have 'such a pragmatic' foreign policy on China and Russia, and he urged the president to continue down the path he was on.
His comments came as the United States President accepted a dramatic offer from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to meet face-to-face.
Donald Trump (pictured) is 'surprisingly' good at foreign policy, according to former Australian prime minister Paul Keating
Mr Keating (pictured) stated the United States was directionless under the previous three administrations and Barack Obama blew an opportunity to reshape the world
Mr Keating's comments came as the United States President accepted a dramatic offer from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (pictured) to meet face-to-face
'America has gone on for 24 years without a strategy,' Mr Keating told a business conference in Sydney, during which he criticised Barack Obama's timidity and 'lack of policy ambition' in office.
'Trump has, surprisinglyand I hope he maintains thisput his hand up for the right policy.'
Mr Keating credited Mr Obama for avoiding major conflicts and underwriting some of the United States's economic recovery, but argued he failed on the world stage.
'In terms of the big game, we lost two more terms,' he said.
'America has gone on for 24 years without a strategy,' Mr Keating (pictured) told a business conference in Sydney
Mr Keating credited Mr Obama (pictured) for avoiding major conflicts and underwriting some of the United States's economic recovery, but argued he failed on the world stage
Mr Keating also criticised George W Bush (pictured) for blowing two presidential terms attempting to 'propagate American values in the Middle East'
Mr Keating described Bill Clinton as a 'domestic politician' who missed the opportunity to remake the world after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
'We lost two Clinton terms as these huge changes in the post-colonial world were taking place.'
He also criticised George W Bush for blowing two presidential terms attempting to 'propagate American values in the Middle East'.
'Meanwhile China is growing in the east,' he said.
The former prime minister described Mr Bush's deputy secretary of defence Paul Wolfowitz as 'dreadful', and warned the United States against attempting to remain a homogeneous power in Asia.
'The Chinese will never accept itwe'll have military problems, confrontations,' he said.
'It will all come unstuck.'
Mr Keating argued the United States should be a 'balancing power' in Asia and learn to relinquish some control of the region.
Mr Trump's strategy of using partnership diplomacy with China was a better approach than what Democrat Hillary Clinton would have adopted if elected, he added.
Mr Keating stated Russia had the power to 'obliterate' the United States, and urged Mr Trump to maintain a workable relationship with the Kremlin.
'Russia alone has the capacity to obliterate the United States. If you're a country that lives under the threat of obliteration, you generally should have a policy.'
The White House confirmed President Trump will meet the North Korean dictator (pictured), but stated the time and place of the meeting was yet to be set
Mr Keating described Bill Clinton (pictured with Kim Jong-il) as a 'domestic politician' who missed the opportunity to remake the world after the fall of the Berlin Wall
The White House confirmed President Trump will meet the North Korean dictator, but stated the time and place of the meeting was yet to be set.
'President Trump greatly appreciates the nice words of the South Korean delegation and President Moon,' stated White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.
'He will accept the invitation to meet with Kim Jong-un at a place and time to be determined.'
'We look forward to the denuclearisation of North Korea. In the meantime, all sanctions and maximum pressure must remain.'
PAUL KEATING'S COMMENTS
ON DONALD TRUMP
'Trump has surprisinglyand I hope he maintains thisput his hand up for the right policy.'
'I didn't expect Trump to have such a pragmatic foreign policy and I only hope he does.'
'He says let's have a better relationship with China, we'll keep them honest on steel and tariffs, but let's have a better overall relationship with them.'
'This is a balance of power strategy, but with partnership diplomacy, it's certainly a better policy than the United States was endeavouring to put into place under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.'
ON BARACK OBAMA
'(Obama), who had the greatest opportunity in history, the most powerful mandate ever, to actually reshape the world, seeing how it was already then turning out.'
'But then of course through timidity, through a lack of policy ambition ... we lost two more terms.'
'The United States has failed to have a policy with the Soviet Union, with the Russians.'
ON GEORGE W BUSH
'They blew two terms trying to propagate American values in the Middle East.'
ON BILL CLINTON
'I had to get him in a headlock to get the APEC meeting up.'
'America has gone on for 24 years without a strategy.'
ON CHINA
'America's future in Asia is as a balancing power, the way Britain was to Europe during the period of Bonaparte, during the period of Kaiser Wilhelm and during the period of Hitlerit was always the offshore power that provided the balance of power in those three important conflicts.'
'This is the first time we've seen North America, Europe and China all growing at once, we are in a world that has got a lot of horsepower.'
'Essentially the Chinese are arguing for the democratisation of international relations.'
'The Chinese believe in globalisation but they do not believe in globalism.'
ON RUSSIA
'Russia alone has the capacity to obliterate the United States. If you're a country that lives under the threat of obliteration, you generally should have a policy.'
AP