Kissinger in China: “Greeted an Old Friend”; Meeting with Xi Scheduled for Today

Henry Kissinger is in China where he met with diplomat Wang Yi and Defense Secretary Li Shangfu, a politician who has been under US sanctions since 2018 for buying weapons from Russia. A meeting with Xi Jinping is scheduled for today.

The reception in honor of President Nixon’s hundred-year-old national security adviser was clearly warmer than that given to other “official” US government delegates who recently traveled to Beijing in order to resume diplomatic relations between the two superpowers.

“China is happy to welcome an old friend,” Wang Yi said, highlighting Kissinger’s importance in the thaw between China and the United States in the 1970s.

However, Beijing’s position is well summarized in the following additional statement, “China’s development uses strong internal dynamics and has an inevitable historical logic; it is impossible to try to transform China, let alone to hold it back.” Wang also recalled that “Taiwan’s independence is incompatible with the peace across the Taiwan Strait, and the principle of One China established in the Shanghai Communiqué must be strictly adhered to. If the United States sincerely hopes for stability across the Taiwan Strait, it must clearly and openly oppose the independence of Taiwan.”

During an even more sensitive meeting with Li Shangfu, Kissinger explained how “The United States and China should resolve misunderstandings, coexist peacefully, and avoid confrontation: neither the United States nor China can afford to treat each other as adversaries. If two countries start a war, there will be no significant results for the two peoples.”

Kissinger’s round of meetings will end with a conversation with President Xi Jinping.