Former US diplomat Henry Kissinger seems on display as he offers a video deal with to the members of the World Financial Discussion board (WEF) 2023, within the alpine resort of Davos, Switzerland, January 17, 2023.
Arnd Wiegman | Reuters
BEIJING — Henry Kissinger, a former US Secretary of State, met with China’s Protection Minister Li Shangfu in Beijing on Tuesday. the ministry said in a statement.
The US State Division stated Kissinger was in Beijing as a non-public particular person, not on behalf of the US authorities.
Through the shock go to, Kissinger stated he was a good friend of China and inspired each nations to work extra carefully collectively, the assertion stated.
“America and China should clear up misunderstandings, coexist peacefully, and keep away from confrontation. Historical past and apply have constantly confirmed that neither the US nor China can afford to deal with one another as an adversary,” stated Kissinger, based on a Reuters translation.
With out naming names, Li stated that “some individuals within the US” had beforehand failed to fulfill China midway, inflicting Sino-US relations to plummet.
Kissinger’s assembly with Li comes as John Kerry, presidential particular envoy for local weather, can be in Beijing for local weather talks.
Kerry’s journey to China follows that of US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in latest weeks.
Blinken stated he failed to revive military-to-military talks with China throughout his June go to.
Diplomatic relations between the 2 world powers have develop into more and more damaged in latest months amid a collection of tit-for-tat commerce limits on the tech sector and heightened tensions across the Taiwan Strait. Li and his US protection counterpart haven’t but formally spoken regardless of safety issues.
Kissinger’s go to comes nearly precisely 52 years after his secret go to to Beijing in July 1971 — a transfer that paved the best way for then-US President Richard Nixon to normalize relations between the US and Mao Zedong’s China.
Greater than half a century later, the 100-year-old continues to be extensively revered in China. In a Might article in China’s Worldwide times newspaper, Kissinger’s contributions to U.S.-China relations had been cited as one in all his “profession highlights”.
