The U.S. and China should look to the example of Deng Xiaoping when it comes to defusing China's territorial spats in the South China Sea, Henry Kissinger, secretary of state during Richard Nixon's presidency, said.

China and the U.S. should "remove the urgency of the debate," Kissinger told reporters Saturday in Singapore. Kissinger, 91, was the architect of Nixon's historic 1972 trip to China that led to the opening of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

"Deng Xiaoping dealt with some of his problems by saying not every problem needs to be solved in the existing generation," he said of the former Chinese leader. "Let's perhaps wait for another generation but let's not make it worse."