Mr. Greenberg, now chairman and CEO of C.V. Starr & Company, has denied any wrongdoing on his part.

Meanwhile, his work at C.V. Starr–a global insurance and investment firm founded in China in 1919 by Cornelius Vander Starr, who also started up AIG–continues to take him around the world.

“From my own selfish point of view, I have operated companies that do business globally, but the benefits of globalization are not limited” to his firm's interests, he said, warning earlier that “if globalization is threatened, it would be terrible not only for the insurance industry, but for the world economy as well as U.S. interests.”

He described a booming Chinese economy that has propelled the country “up the economic food chain dramatically,” but added that growing pains are already evident, creating opportunities to put U.S. risk management concepts to work.

“The rapid growth there has caused terrible pollution,” he said. “The environmental problems are just staggering, and if they don't do something soon to correct that, their health care costs will skyrocket as well.”

He also predicted that China will keep expanding beyond its borders, creating opportunities for U.S. insurers.

“They will start up branches of Chinese companies or buy into markets around the world, including our own,” he said. “It won't be long before you see a lot of Chinese cars on our highways, many of which likely will be built in U.S. plants, where the Chinese won't face the legacy issues of pensions and health care costs crippling U.S. manufacturers.”

Such a trend is ultimately “good for us because it increases Chinese exposure to the global economy and creates more interdependence and cooperation.”

However, globalization could be derailed if calls for protectionism are heeded in the face of a growing trade imbalance with China and fears about U.S. job losses, he said–warning that punitive tariffs and trade restrictions would inevitably do the U.S. economy more harm than good.

“We don't operate in a vacuum,” he said. “As their trade surplus grows, they pile up U.S. dollars, then they buy our Treasury bills, thus keeping our interest rates down and our inflation low.”

A more productive response, he suggested, would be to improve teacher pay and bolster U.S. school systems “so that we can keep our biggest competitive edge, which is our innovative, knowledgeable and productive work force.”