The now centenarian Henry Kissinger was received with honors by Chinese President Xi Jinping. The reception of the craftsman of the Sino-American rapprochement, five decades ago, comes in a context of tensions between China and the United States.
Chinese President Xi Jinping received Thursday July 20 in Beijing former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, now 100 years old. His welcome makes an impression at a time when relations between the two countries are particularly tense, despite a recent series of diplomatic visits.
In an interview at The Economist, the former secretary of state in the 1970s said he was convinced that the Chinese president would still take him on the phone, half a century after the rapprochement to which he contributed a lot. It got a whole lot better than that.
Nixon, Mao and Kissinger come together to “remake the world”
Qualified for “legendary diplomat” by the Chinese media, Henry Kissinger, former secretary of state to Richard Nixon and former national security adviser, was very officially received in the government’s state villa in Beijing. This is the same place that took place the first conversations with his Chinese interlocutors at the time.
These secret meetings had paved the way for Richard Nixon’s visit there in 1972, the first visit of a President of the United States to the People’s Republic of China. In the middle of the Vietnam War, where the two powers clashed indirectly, Nixon and Mao had then “remade the world” thanks to the mediation of Henry Kissinger.
The statements of the Chinese president reported by state television may seem banal, but they resonate as far as Washington. Xi Jinping assures that he will never forget Henry Kissinger’s historic contribution to the development of Sino-American relations and the strengthening of friendship between the two peoples.
A very political message
As if the Chinese president regretted a time when American diplomacy knew how to be more conciliatory, at a time when tensions between Beijing and Washington are high, particularly on the question of Taiwan.
Yet Henry Kissinger does not mince his words today when he talks about China. Despite the fatigue of age, he remains an outstanding diplomat, undoubtedly the most impactful of his generation. IA few weeks ago on the American television channel CBS, the former Secretary of State said that when two powers like China and the United States come face to face, it normally ends in an armed conflict. It evokes a pre-World War I situation.
Despite everything, there is a hint of optimism in Henry Kissinger’s words. For him the two countries can live together without the threat of permanent war, but success is not guaranteed.