Henry Kissinger’s Last Major Foray into Diplomacy Was a Sit-Down with Xi Jinping in July

Former Secretary of State and longtime presidential adviser Henry Kissinger made one last informal diplomatic trip before he passed away on Wednesday at the age of 100. In July, he made a surprise trip to China and met with dictator Xi Jinping in Beijing.

Kissinger’s trip came amid a string of Biden administration officials visiting China in an effort to improve relations between Washington and Beijing. The diplomatic climax was Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s visit in August, which produced no meaningful breakthroughs.

The Biden White House said it was aware of Kissinger’s plans to visit Beijing, but he was not traveling as a representative of the administration – although National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the White House looked forward to “hearing from Secretary Kissinger when he returns, to hear what he heard, what he learned, what he saw.”

Kissinger was the architect of the U.S. opening to China, which began with a secret visit he made to Beijing in July 1971. Xi made a point of telling the former secretary of state that China remembers “the historical contributions you have made to the development of China-U.S. relations, and the friendship between the Chinese and American people.” 

Chinese state media credited Kissinger with making over a hundred trips to China during his hundred years of life. The state-run Global Times referred to Kissinger as an “old friend” of China and said his visit merited the “grandest reception” China could provide for a private citizen.

The Global Times then used Kissinger as a club to batter the Biden administration:

Judging from Kissinger’s previous interviews and speeches, he has real concerns about the current development trend of China-US relations. Presumably, this is why he insists on visiting China at such an age. The Chinese people know that it is not easy for a centenarian to travel from afar for the sake of China-US relations, and feel deeply about his efforts. However, in the US, the White House expressed regret that Kissinger was able to get more of an audience in Beijing as a private citizen than some sitting US officials, and some analysts and media say that Beijing is playing the “old friend” card and wooing those who might help change opinions in Washington, and some even claim that this “looks very much like a deliberate Chinese strategy.”

In the eyes of the Chinese, these claims are extremely naive and ridiculous. Why could “a citizen” surpass sitting officials in Washington and receive higher courtesy and greater respect? Doesn’t Washington have a point in mind? In recent years, pragmatism and rationality toward China has been severely marginalized in the US. Washington’s China policy often drifts and collides under the countercurrent of extreme protectionism and resentment of all kinds, and the room for maneuver in China-US relations has been greatly reduced. At the age of 100, Kissinger still plays a prominent role in promoting the stability of China-US relations and avoiding conflicts. It shows that the diplomatic wisdom of the US has no successors, and that there is a lack of sound communication channels between China and the US.

The Chinese Communist paper lavished praise on Kissinger for his “diplomatic wisdom,” his respect for China, his “goodwill and sincerity,” and his status as a “centenarian elder.” 

Much of this effusive praise was intended as a backhanded slap at the White House, and particularly the aforementioned National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, who irked the Xi regime by remarking that it was “unfortunate” a private citizen like Kissinger could meet with top Chinese officials more easily than members of the sitting U.S. administration. Kirby was especially miffed that Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu was willing to meet with Kissinger after turning down numerous requests for a meeting from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

The Global Times haughtily dismissed theories that China was using Kissinger to influence the Biden administration as “extremely naive and ridiculous.” 

And yet, another Global Times piece from July quoted Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi explicitly hoping Kissinger could bring the Biden White House around to China’s point of view:

When visiting US climate envoy John Kerry wrapped up his four-day visit to China on Wednesday, China’s senior diplomat Wang Yi met the centenarian former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, an old friend of the Chinese people who has made historic contributions to the ice-breaking development in China-US relations. During the meeting held in Beijing, Wang Yi called on the US government to change its current China policy which is now characterized as containment and suppression. 

The Chinese official also expressed hope that US China policy will have Kissinger-style wisdom and Nixon-style political courage, which was seen by experts as a clear message Beijing delivered to Washington given that US China policy, under the toxic environment of its domestic politics, has deviated from a rational and sound track, creating growing obstacles for the bilateral relations. 

Wang concluded that the Biden administration needed “Kissinger-style wisdom and Nixon-style political courage,” a formulation unlikely to sit well with a Democrat White House.

“The current U.S. policy toward China is eager to transform China or contain China, which will not succeed and it is doomed to fail. Wang delivered this message to the Biden administration through the talks with Kissinger, urging the incumbent U.S. officials to have the political courage to adjust their China policy,” Fudan University director of American studies Wu Xinbo told the Global Times.

The New York Times noted on Thursday that Chinese state media is positively brimming with fond reminiscences of Kissinger, and especially of his final visit to meet with Xi Jinping. Numerous Chinese officials referred to the late Kissinger as China’s “old friend” in their condolence messages, including China’s ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng.

The NYT observed that Kissinger is “remembered far less fondly in Taiwan,” which laments Kissinger shifting U.S. diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing without securing an ironclad commitment from China to refrain from invading Taiwan.