Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

 

Architect of US-China Relations, Henry Kissinger, Meets with President Xi Jinping in Second Surprise Beijing Talks

July 21, 2023

 

Chinese President Xi Jinping and former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger attended an elaborate lunch at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, on July 21, 2023, scmp, China Daily, Reuters

Henry Kissinger at 99, still active, traveling to China, and writing books. He achieved the most influential position an unelected individual could have ever reached. In the 1970s, he was the US Secretary of State, National Security Adviser, and Chair of the 40-member committee overseeing the CIA, at the time when President Nixon was drowned in the Watergate saga, which enabled Kissinger to become the de facto unelected Emperor.

 

Henry Kissinger treated to lavish lunch as China gives US diplomat blessings of longevity

Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke fondly of the 100-year-old former US secretary of state at a lavish lunch The elaborate table setting was packed with cultural significance, including symbols of good health and longevity

By Dewey Sim

SCMP, 21 Jul, 2023

When an “old friend” of China comes to visit, no effort is too much to make the diplomatic heavyweight feel welcome.

That was the case for former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger on Thursday, when the Chinese government treated him to an elaborate lunch – one that was packed with cultural significance as President Xi Jinping spoke fondly of his “old friend” who celebrated his 100th birthday in May.

The meeting took place at the No 5 Villa of the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, the same place where Kissinger met Chinese leadership in his first China visit back in 1971.

The table was decorated with a sprawling miniature landscape, featuring bright flowers surrounding a running stream and bridge, which Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said represented the “bridge between China and the United States”.

In a video posted by CCTV which showed snippets from the lunch, the broadcaster also said the lush mountains and glistening waters in the landscape symbolised the long-lasting friendship between the two countries. Also part of the decorations were ornaments of pine trees and cranes, typically symbols of good health and longevity.

At the head of the table was a huge longevity peach, accompanied by 99 others. In Chinese culture, pastries or cakes made of peaches are usually served during birthday celebrations of elderly people to represent immortality and longevity.

The attention to detail in even the smaller elements in the room, such as a napkin holder made from sandalwood in the shape of a calabash, showed the care the Chinese government had taken in hosting Kissinger, who paved the way for the normalisation of US-China ties in the 1970s.

The menu featured several dishes Kissinger had enjoyed when he and former US president Richard Nixon made their groundbreaking official visit in 1972, including Peking duck and West Lake fish in vinegar gravy.

“Such a thoughtful arrangement reflects how the Chinese people value friendships and never forget old friends,” the CCTV video said.

The lunch held for the 100-year-old Kissinger and Xi Jinping also featured blessings for longevity. Photo: CCTV

Earlier on Thursday, when Xi held talks with Kissinger, he noted that his guest had recently celebrated his 100th birthday and had visited China more than 100 times over the years. He added that these “two hundreds gave this visit special significance”.

“We never forget our old friends, nor your historic contributions to promoting the growth of China-US relations and enhancing friendship between the two peoples,” Xi was quoted by state media as saying.

The Chinese president told Kissinger that Beijing was willing to explore ways to improve relations with Washington, and hoped the former American diplomat could play a constructive role in restoring US-China ties.

Amid the deteriorating relationship between the two rival superpowers, both sides have made efforts recently to revive communications and repair ties. This week, China hosted US climate envoy John Kerry, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have both made visits to Beijing.

While Kissinger is in China for a “private trip”, sources told the South China Morning Post that the purpose of his visit was to get a better understanding of the Chinese leadership’s thinking. He is expected to share his impressions with the US government when he returns.

During his trip, Kissinger has spoken with high-ranking Chinese officials including top diplomat Wang Yi and Defence Minister Li Shangfu.

Earlier this year, Li rejected a face-to-face meeting with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin at the Shangri-La Dialogue over Washington’s refusal to lift sanctions levied against him.

Kissinger also met Xi on Thursday. This was in stark contrast to recent China visits by US officials which excluded meetings with the Chinese leader. Both Kerry and Yellen did not hold talks with Xi.

According to Reuters, the White House expressed regret that Kissinger was able to get more of an audience in Beijing than some sitting US officials.

“It’s unfortunate that a private citizen can meet with the defence minister and have a communication and the United States can’t,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

“That is something that we want to solve. This is why we continue to try to get the military lines of communication back open, because when they’re not open and you have a time like this when tensions are high, miscalculations also, then the risk goes high.”

Kirby added that US officials “look forward to hearing from secretary Kissinger when he returns, to hear what he heard, what he learned, what he saw”.

Dewey Sim is a reporter for the China desk covering Beijing's foreign policy. He was previously writing about Singapore and Southeast Asia for the Post's Asia desk. A Singapore native, Dewey joined the Post in 2019 and is a graduate of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information.

Henry Kissinger treated to lavish lunch as China gives US diplomat blessings of longevity | South China Morning Post (scmp.com)

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China-U.S. ties at a crossroads but could possibly stabilize, Xi tells Kissinger

PBS, Jul 20, 2023 4:36 PM EDT

BEIJING (AP) —

Chinese leader Xi Jinping told former top U.S. diplomat Henry Kissinger on Thursday that relations between the two countries are at a crossroads and both sides need to “make new decisions” that could result in stable ties and “joint success and prosperity.”

The 100-year-old Kissinger is revered in China for having engineered the opening of relations between the ruling Communist Party and Washington under former President Richard Nixon during the Cold War in the early 1970s.

Xi, who is head of state, party general secretary and commander of the world’s largest standing military, met with Kissinger in the relatively informal setting of Beijing’s park-like Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, with Chinese senior diplomat Wang Yi also in attendance.

“China and the United States are once again at the crossroads of where to go, and the two sides need to make new decisions,” Xi said, according to a statement released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

“Looking into the future, China and the United States can achieve joint success and prosperity,” Xi said.

Kissinger’s visit coincided with one by Biden’s top climate envoy, John Kerry, the third senior Biden administration official in recent weeks to travel to China for meetings following Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. The flurry of diplomacy aims to restore dialogue suspended by Beijing, mainly over U.S. support for the self-governing island democracy of Taiwan that China claims as its own territory.

Referring to Kissinger’s role in initiating China-U.S. relations while serving as national security adviser during the Nixon administration, Wang said he had played an “irreplaceable role in enhancing mutual understanding between the two countries.”

“The U.S. policy toward China requires the diplomatic wisdom like that of Kissinger and political courage like Nixon’s,” Wang said, according to the Foreign Ministry. Kissinger also served as secretary of state under Nixon.

The ministry said the two sides also discussed the war in Ukraine, in which China has largely sided with Moscow, as well as artificial intelligence and other economic issues. Wang told Kissinger that it was “impossible” to transform, encircle or contain China, which Chinese leaders say the U.S. is trying to do in disputes over trade, technology, Taiwan and China’s human rights record.

On Tuesday, Kissinger held talks with Defense Minister Li Shangfu, who is barred from visiting the U.S. over arms sales he oversaw with Russia.

China’s Defense Ministry quoted Li as praising the role Kissinger played in opening up China-U.S. relations in the early 1970s, but said bilateral ties had hit a low point because of “some people on the American side who are not willing to meet China halfway.”

U.S. leaders say they have no such intentions and only seek frank dialogue and fair competition.

China broke off many contacts with the Biden administration last August, including over climate issues, to show its anger with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan. China claims the island as its own territory, to be brought under its control by force if necessary, threatening to draw the U.S. into a major conflict in a region crucial to the global economy.

Contacts have only slowly been restored and China continues to refuse to restart dialogue between the People’s Liberation Army, the party’s military branch, and the U.S. Department of Defense. Even before Pelosi’s visit, the U.S. says China declined or failed to respond to over a dozen requests from the Department of Defense for top-level dialogues since 2021.

The wave of U.S. diplomacy has yet to be reciprocated by China, which has its own list of concessions it wants from Washington. U.S. officials, including Kerry, have said they will not offer Beijing any such deals.

Kissinger did not meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who has been out of public sight for more than three weeks. Despite speculation about political rivalries and personal scandals, the ministry has provided no information about his status in keeping with the party’s standard approach to personnel matters in a highly opaque political system in which the media and free speech are severely restricted.

China-U.S. ties at a crossroads but could possibly stabilize, Xi tells Kissinger | PBS NewsHour

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'Old friend': Henry Kissinger meets China's Xi Jinping in second surprise Beijing talks

CNBC, July 2, 2023

Story by Karen Gilchrist 

Veteran U.S. diplomat Henry Kissinger met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday during a surprise visit to Beijing, state media reported. Details of the talks were not disclosed, though a statement praised Kissinger as a "legendary diplomat." The meeting comes two days after spontaneous talks between Kissinger and China's defense minister, Li Shangfu, on Tuesday.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger helped broker talks between then-U.S. President Richard Nixon and China's Mao Zedong, paving the way for normalized relations.© Provided by CNBC

Veteran U.S. diplomat Henry Kissinger met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday during a surprise visit to Beijing, according to state media.

The 100-year-old former U.S. secretary of State was hosted by the Chinese premier at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, CCTV said in an online post.

Details of the talks were not disclosed, though a statement praised Kissinger as a "legendary diplomat" in reference to his prior work in negotiating U.S. rapprochement with China, according to a Google translation of the report.

"Chinese people value friendship, and we will never forget our old friend and your historic contribution to promoting the development of Sino-US relations and enhancing the friendship between the Chinese and American peoples," an additional report from official state news agency Xinhua quoted Xi as saying, according to Google translate.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment on the meeting. However, Reuters reported that the White House said Kissinger was not visiting China on behalf of the U.S. government.

Kissinger's talks with Xi were his second unexpected meeting of the week, after the former diplomat spoke with China's defense minister, Li Shangfu, on Tuesday.

A thawing of U.S.-Sino tensions

The talks come amid wider efforts to thaw diplomatic tensions between the two global powers. U.S.-Sino relations have grown increasingly fractured over recent months amid a string of tit-for-tat tech sector trade caps, increased tensions around the Taiwan Strait, and security concerns following U.S. interception of a suspected Chinese spy balloon.

Kissinger — who in 1971 initiated a normalization of U.S.-Sino relations, which later led to talks between then-U.S. President Richard Nixon and China's Mao Zedong — is still held in high regard in China.

A video accompanying CCTV's post shows footage of Kissinger sitting with Xi in one of the palatial rooms of the state guesthouse — a location considered more intimate than the Great Hall of the People, where official diplomatic meetings are typically held.

The video also features footage of the recent visits to China by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. climate envoy John Kerry.

Notably, Blinken was the only other U.S. official to secure face time with Xi over recent weeks, holding a last-minute meeting that was described as robust but conciliatory.

Kerry, in a four-day visit to Beijing which concluded Wednesday, signaled that a forthcoming meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Xi could be on the cards later this year.

Kerry was referring to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders' Summit, which the two leaders are set to attend in San Francisco in November. The last time the pair met was in November at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.

Correction: Kissinger in 1971 initiated a normalization of U.S.-Sino relations. An earlier version misstated the year.

'Old friend': Henry Kissinger meets China's Xi Jinping in second surprise Beijing talks (msn.com)

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Henry Kissinger reflects on leadership, global crises and the state of U.S. politics

Jul 7, 2022 6:25 PM EDT

By Judy Woodruff, Ali Rogin, and Cybele Mayes-Osterman

Between the war in Ukraine and tensions with China, President Biden's handling of foreign policy issues is being put to the test. In former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's new book, "Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy," he examines how past leaders faced the challenges of their times. He joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the book, the state of global politics and more.

Read the Full Transcript

Judy Woodruff:

Between the war in Ukraine and tensions with China, President Biden's handling of foreign policy issues is being put to the test.

In former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's new book, "Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy," he examines how past leaders in the era after the World Wars faced the challenges of their times.

I sat down with the 99-year-old veteran diplomat in his New York City office yesterday to discuss the Ukraine war, the state of global politics, and much more.

In this latest book, you tell us the story of six leaders on the world stage after World War II.

You say they were both statesmen and prophets. And my first question is, is there anyone in the world today, a world leader, who comes close to embodying the qualities of these six you portray in the book?

Henry Kissinger, Former U.S. Secretary of State: None, in my observation.

Of course, many of the contemporary leaders haven't finished their careers yet. And maybe they haven't faced their big challenges yet. But the reason I wrote about these six is because they made a difference in the evolution of their societies. And maybe one can learn something from them at a time when the transformation of societies is one of the big issues almost everywhere.

Judy Woodruff:

It's interesting. The one American president you choose is Richard Nixon.

We were talking about this, controversial figure, in large part because of the war in Vietnam. You write about his opening to China that was brilliant. But then the war in Vietnam prolonged, more years. Thousands of Americans died. There were so many things that came from that that arguably led to Richard Nixon's worst instincts.

Henry Kissinger:

Well, he destroyed — he destroyed himself.

And it was partly because of the atmosphere domestically that had grown up around the war in Vietnam. But it's important to remember that war had been going on in previous administrations, that the deployment of 500,000 troops was what Nixon inherited.

So, you said he prolonged the war. That implies that he could have ended it earlier on terms that the American people could understand. And we settled as soon as we agreed to the fact that South Vietnam's people would have a right to choose their own government.

But it took nearly four years to get there. But our predecessors hadn't even started a negotiation yet. So it wasn't so simple.

Judy Woodruff:

It remains something that people identify with Richard Nixon.

I want to turn you, Dr. Kissinger, to the main conflict in the world today in Ukraine. Do you see this just going on until the two sides are exhausted, or is there — do you see a quicker way to bring it to an end?

Henry Kissinger:

A curious aspect of this war is, it almost looks like World War I.

If one side clearly wins, then it will have profound consequences. I think a negotiation is desirable. And I said so in Davos, and I was attacked for it. But I think we will be heading in that direction.

Judy Woodruff:

And your comments at Davos did draw criticism, attention. People were saying you were arguing for Ukraine to give up territory.

Henry Kissinger:

No, but the funny thing is, I did not say that. What I said was, a cease-fire line should be drawn at where the war started.

I think Russia should not gain anything from the war.

Judy Woodruff:

Right now, Russia has almost complete control of the Donbass.

Henry Kissinger:

Yes.

Judy Woodruff:

They're trying to consolidate that now. They have Crimea.

If Russia were to say, OK, let's have a truce, should Ukraine go along with that and let them have what they have got?

Henry Kissinger:

It's their country. And if they decide that, we would have to accept it.

I would deplore it greatly. And I hope that decision will not be made.

Judy Woodruff:

The U.S. and NATO have said they're prepared to do whatever it takes to support Ukraine. But does that mean indefinitely? Does that mean…

Henry Kissinger:

Yes, but that is — that is exactly the question.

I, therefore, hope that a negotiated outcome will be found. We cannot give up — Ukraine, above all, cannot give up territory that it had when the war started, because this would be symbolically dangerous for NATO and for the problems we face in the — in Asia.

Judy Woodruff:

Do you believe Xi Jinping is looking at this and thinking he is more likely to want to take over Taiwan or less likely, watching what Russia's experience in Ukraine is?

Henry Kissinger:

Well, he must know that an all-out attack on Taiwan or any kind of attack designed to take it over is going to be resisted by America in its current mood.

So, I think an all-out attack on Taiwan is the last thing that the Chinese plan right now.

Judy Woodruff:

Do you think it would be better now for the United States to drop any ambiguity about Taiwan and its relationship with China and just say flatly the U.S. will defend Taiwan?

Henry Kissinger:

No.

If we abandon that and declare Taiwan an independent country, then China will almost be forced to undertake military action, because it has been so long and for — so fiercely a part of their domestic problem. So, the ambiguity is to prevent conflict.

But the deterrent effect needs to be also firm.

Judy Woodruff:

so I hear you saying you think the U.S. has made it clear enough that it will come to Taiwan's defense?

Henry Kissinger:

I think so. I mean, the very concentration of our forces makes that clear.

Judy Woodruff:

Different subject, Dr. Kissinger, about former President Trump.

As you know, the January 6 Committee looking into his actions and the actions of the people around him leading up to the attack on the Capitol last year. From your perspective of someone who knows international affairs, what do you think he did to America's role in the world during his four years in office?

Henry Kissinger:

When he started and asserted the American national interest, and not only abstract principles, I had sympathy for him.

But as his position developed of being so centrally focused on one person, so turning issues into confrontations, I became less enthusiastic. I wasn't enthusiastic, but I was hoping.

And I met with him several times when he became president. At the end, for an American president to challenge the constitutional system and to try to overthrow the constitutional system is a grave matter. And I find no excuse for that.

Judy Woodruff:

Do you think he should be prevented from running for president again?

Henry Kissinger:

I don't.

I think, if he runs, it should be weighed by people who vote.

Judy Woodruff:

Dr. Henry Kissinger, still writing books at the age of 99, thank you very much.

Henry Kissinger reflects on leadership, global crises and the state of U.S. politics | PBS NewsHour