Henry Kissinger, 100, meets Xi Jinping amid tense US-China relations

WASHINGTON — Retirement doesn’t seem to be Henry Kissinger’s thing.

The 100-year-old former secretary of state met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday as US relations with Beijing continue their decline.

Calling Kissinger an “old friend” for whom he has “great respect,” Xi said the visit by the former national security adviser held special significance because of Kissinger’s advanced age and his long history with China — a country the Germany-born diplomat has visited more than 100 times.

“We will never forget our old friend and your historic contribution to promoting the development of Sino-US relations and enhancing the friendship between the Chinese and American peoples,” Xi said, according to state-run media CCTV.

Xi added that he and Kissinger last met about three years ago, prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the Biden administration did not send Kissinger to China, adding that the centenarian went “under his own volition, not acting on behalf of the United States government.”

Though Kissinger has not worked in foreign policy for the US government since the 1970s, the Nobel Peace Prize winner has remained active on the diplomatic stage, publishing the book “On China” in 2011, which takes a historic look into Beijing’s history of foreign relations and provides insight into the Chinese Communist Party.

“The relations between our two countries would be central to the peace in the world and the progress of our societies,” Kissinger said during the visit, adding that it was “a great privilege to visit China.”

However, that relationship is at a historic low, with almost a year passing since the two countries last had formal military-to-military discussions. Ties have also been affected by multiple revelations this year that Beijing has boosted its surveillance of the US through a spy balloon program and opening a surveillance base in Cuba.

Kissinger is credited for normalizing US-China relations during his tenure as national security adviser, secretly visiting the Communist nation in 1971 to lay the foundation for the 1972 summit with President Richard Nixon, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and CCP Chairman Mao Zedong.

“The China-US relations was at a turning point back then,” Xi said Thursday. “The Chinese people will never forget their old friends, and China-US relations is always connected with the name of Kissinger.”

Later, Xi told Kissinger that “China and the United States are once again at the crossroads of where to go, and the two sides need to make new decisions,” according to a statement released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

“Looking into the future, China and the United States can achieve joint success and prosperity,” he added.

Kissinger also met with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi and Defense Minister Li Shangfu, who remains under US sanctions and rejected a request from the Pentagon for a meeting with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in May during the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore.

“US policy towards China requires Kissinger-style diplomatic wisdom and Nixon-style political courage,” Wang told Kissinger during their meeting Wednesday, according to the foreign ministry’s official website.

The comment may have been a reference to Kissinger’s controversial role in agreeing to pull US troops from Taiwan in the 1970s should the Vietnam War end and US-China relations improve.

Fifty years later, the sovereignty status of the democratic island remains one of the hottest sticking points between the two countries.

Xi’s meeting with Kissinger is of particular interest given his decisions not to meet with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen or US special envoy for climate John Kerry during their official visits to Beijing this month. However, Xi did meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his China trip in June.

It remains unclear what Kissinger discussed with the Chinese officials behind closed doors, but the visit appears to have been an example of “Track 1.5 diplomacy,” which happens when a non-official but influential individual from one nation visits leaders from an adversary country in unofficial engagements to drive conflict resolution.