President Xi Jinping meets former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in Beijing

Aged 100, Henry Kissinger had worked hard to bring China and the United States closer together in the 1970s. This meeting took place in a tense context between the two countries.

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Former US Secretary of State Hnery Kissinger at a reception in Washington (USA) on June 23, 2023. (ALEX WONG / GETTY IMAGES / AFP)

A meeting rich in symbolism. Chinese President Xi Jinping received former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in Beijing on July 20, state television CCTV reported, without specifying the content of their discussions. Henry Kissinger, 100 years old, is the craftsman of the historic rapprochement in the 70s between China and the United States. But this exchange comes at a time when relations between the two countries remain at an all-time low, despite a recent series of diplomatic visits.

On Wednesday, Henry Kissinger was first received by the most senior Chinese official for diplomacy, Wang Yi. The latter had notably thanked him for his “historic contributions to the thawing of relations between China and the United States”. Henry Kissinger, then National Security Advisor, had secretly traveled to Beijing in July 1971 to prepare for the establishment of diplomatic ties and pave the way for a historic visit by US President Richard Nixon to China the following year.


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