MANILA, Philippines - In this week's edition of #TalkThursday, Rappler talks to former United States ambassador to the Philippines John Negroponte.

Negroponte gives his thoughts on China, its territorial sovereignty disputes, the US treaty with the Philippines and how far it will go to protect its partner.

Negroponte also talks about the attention the Philippines is getting from the US along with other emerging Asian countries.

The American diplomat who spent over 40 years serving in the State Department believes the US will pull out majority of its military forces in Afghanistan similar to what it did in Iraq.

John Negroponte, was also ambassador to Mexico, Honduras, UN & Iraq. He was sitting behind Colin Powell during the Iraq-WMD justification and was with Kissinger when the US first went into China in the 70s. This is a first-hand view of global history, power shifts, the US role. He gives a nuanced view of the world today and the road ahead.

Negropnte says he believes US will completely pull out of Afghanistan by 2014 - even though there is the possibility the power vacuum may allow history to repeat itself. (In 1989, the Soviet Union and the US pulled out of Afghanistan, and that power vacuum gave birth to al-Qaeda).

Interestingly, he says the worst threat he sees today is in "cyber."

- Rappler.com