Visiting is an opportunity for Beijing
Beijing, for its part, saw Kissinger’s visit as an opportunity to deliver her political messages, to the American people first, and then to the American administration and the whole world.
Kissinger had a much larger reception than current American officials when they visited Beijing, and he held a series of important meetings that culminated in his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
It was certainly not just before Beijing set up a program for Kissinger’s series of meetings with Chinese officials that begins with a meeting with Chinese Defense Minister Li Shang Fu, a figure on the U.S. sanctions list since 2017, over Washington’s accusation of buying weapons from Rosoboronexport, Russia’s largest arms exporter.
Beijing had refused to hold a meeting between U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart, conditional on such a meeting lifting U.S. sanctions on Secretary Fu.
This movement by Beijing has White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby saying: “It’s unfortunate that a private citizen can meet with the secretary of defense and make contact and the United States can’t.”
Kirby added: “This is something we want to resolve. That is why we continue to try to reopen military lines of communication with Beijing, because when they are not open, and we are going through a time like this when tensions are high, poor estimates are also high, then the stakes will rise and dramatically, “he said.
Perhaps the most important messages were during a reception by China’s chief foreign relations officer, Wang Yi, of Henry Kissinger in Beijing, in which Yi sent strong messages: “China’s development has an internal dynamic and absolute historical logic, trying to change China is impossible, and encircling and containing China is impossible.”
Wang added that the United States should draw a clear line regarding “separatist activities seeking Taiwan’s independence,” if it really hopes to stabilize the Taiwan Strait region.
Wang Yi is the most prominent diplomatic figure in modern Chinese history, having served as Chinese foreign minister since 2013, for ten years. Then at the 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party he became responsible for foreign relations.
Which means that every word Wang made has been carefully crafted, that Beijing is embracing his speech and vision, and that Chinese militancy has become the title of the next phase, unless Washington changes the way it deals with China.
Perhaps Wang’s most prominent and powerful message is that “Sino-American relations need Kissinger’s diplomatic wisdom, Nixon’s political courage.” In the sense that the current US administration lacks wisdom and courage.
Wang’s talk that “China’s evolution is subject to historical logic” is an indication that China has never been a burden to anyone, that the Chinese people have not waited for help from anyone, and all China has reached is thanks to the vision of its leadership, and the work of its people.
Wang stressed that the U.S. side should implement the important commitments made by U.S. President Joe Biden that it does not seek or enter a new cold war with China. and that the United States cease its pursuit of regime change in China. Washington also stopped supporting so-called “Taiwan independence,” and adhering to the one-China policy agreed upon by the two countries, for which Kissinger was a godfather at the time.
The Chinese side has always followed the three principles put forward by President Xi Jinping: mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and mutual benefit and profit for both sides.
Kissinger’s visit to China culminated in a meeting with Chinese President Xi on Thursday, where Kissinger received a standing ovation and called him “an old friend of Beijing.”