Xi Jinping welcomes the centenary of Kissinger in an effort to revive Sino-US relations

he Centenario Henry KissingerXi Jinping, one of the most famous American geopolitical strategists of the 20th century and a key player in the restoration of diplomatic relations between communist China and the United States in 1979, was received on Thursday by the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping. The meeting exudes symbolism on all four sides: it takes place while the two world superpowers are trying to Restore some relationships in a coma After touching the lowest levels in the past months. “We will never forget our old friend and his historical contributions to promoting the development of Sino-US relations,” President Xi told Kissinger.

During the meeting, the Chinese leader noted that the former US Secretary of State had just celebrated its centenary, and also noted that he had visited China more than 100 times. According to the official reading provided by Beijing, “the combination of these two hundred makes his visit to China on this occasion have a special meaning.” Kissinger replied that the relationship between the two countries is “linked to world peace and progress” and promised to “continue to make efforts to facilitate mutual understanding.”

The meeting was surrounded by an aura of nostalgia. The meeting took place in the same room at the Diaoyutai Residence (where official visitors usually stay) where Kissinger secretly met with communist leaders on his first visit to China in 1971. He was then President Richard Nixon’s national security adviser and had received him. In the midst of the Cold War, the very complex task of articulating rapprochement with the Asian country, whose rise, in Washington’s eyes, could act as a counterweight to the Soviet Union.

During a trip to Pakistan, Kissinger pretended to be ill and disappeared for 48 frantic hours, heading to Beijing to negotiate with the then Chinese Prime Minister, Zhou Enlai, Manu Derecha de Mao Zedong, The architecture of Nixon’s state visit to China, the first by an American president since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. That is why we are in Beijing, “Kissinger wrote in the emotional passage dedicated to the meeting in his book In China (On China, 2011).

In the interview, Xi recalled that moment when both countries were “at a crucial turning point,” and how Mao, Zhou, Nixon, and Kissinger, with their “extraordinary strategic vision, made the right decision,” which contributed to “benefits for both countries and changed the world.” He added that this The world now faces a new crossroads that requires a new decision “on both sides of the way forward”.

During those first contacts in the 1970s, the so-called Policy (Washington para) S principle (to beijing) than “One China” The ambiguous verbal and diplomatic tightrope the two countries maintain with regard to Taiwan. The self-governing island, which Beijing considers an integral part of its territory, is one of the crucial points in the geopolitical struggle between the great powers, “the core of China’s main interests” and “where lies the future of the Chinese nation and the mission of the enduring history of the Communist Party,” the country’s leaders reiterated. Often.

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the visit Last summer to this pocket The then Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, is at the root of the controversies in recent months.

Under the current circumstances, it is necessary to adhere to the principles laid down by the Shanghai Communique [el primero firmado por Nixon y Mao en 1972, que reconoce la política en torno a Taiwán]”We appreciate the great importance China attaches to the one-China principle and steers relations in a positive direction,” Kissinger told Xi, according to the text released by Beijing.

The meeting with the president comes after two days of high-level meetings between Kissinger and other Chinese leaders. On Tuesday, he met Defense Minister Li Changfu, who included him On the blacklist of sanctions by Washington (In 2018, before his appointment as minister in 2023) made him one of the obstacles in reopening the channels of military communication between China and the United States, which collapsed last summer after the Taiwan crisis. Xinhua news agency quoted Kissinger as saying that both powers “should eliminate misunderstandings, peaceful coexistence, and avoid confrontation.”

On Wednesday, the Americans held a confrontation with the Communist Party’s chief of diplomacy, Wang Yi, who acknowledged that he “played an irreplaceable role in promoting mutual understanding between the two countries.” His stay partly coincided with that of US Special Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, whose visit to Beijing was the third by a senior US official in the past month, trying to stop relations in a free fall. Relationships first managed to stabilize with Journey US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in mid-June, Followed by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, two weeks ago.

Although it is not an official visit – Kissinger has not held office in years – it seems destined to bring the world’s first and second largest economies closer together. In several recent interventions, North America has advocated détente in the great-power conflict. “We’re in the classic situation before World War I,” he stated in an interview in May The Economist“where neither side has much room for political compromise and any change in the balance could have dire consequences.”

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