100-year-old former Secretary of State Henry A. A red carpet welcome for Kissinger included Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, saying, “The Chinese people will always remember you.” This included praise from China’s top diplomat for his intelligence. And it included a meeting with China’s defense minister, who has declined multiple requests to engage with his American counterpart.
China’s rapturous welcome to Mr. Kissinger this week is the latest example of how Beijing is reaching out to official diplomatic channels to broaden the reach of its message and influence Washington’s thinking. Beijing has turned to those it feels are more aligned with its position, as it has grown increasingly skeptical of, and at times openly disenchanted with, the Biden administration.
With the visit by Mr. Kissinger, whom Mr. Xi and other officials called an “old friend,” Beijing sought to emphasize cooperation and mutual respect between the powers. With visits from business leaders like Bill Gates – Mr. Called an old friend by Xi — and Elon Musk — China has sought to highlight the long-standing economic relationship and the risks of unraveling global supply chains.
Such efforts could become increasingly important as Beijing pushes back against the Biden administration’s efforts to contain China geographically, militarily and technologically. China is watching as Republicans and Democrats who want to remain tough on Beijing are uniting, and the US presidential election is likely to see candidates increasingly critical of China.
“It looks like a deliberate Chinese ploy,” said Dennis Wilder, former head of China analysis at the Central Intelligence Agency, to court figures who help sway opinions in Washington. “The Chinese are empowering those with vested interests in the Chinese economy and the overall relationship.”
After several months of deep cold, the two countries have begun to re-engage on issues such as trade and climate change. But progress has been limited, with President Biden’s climate envoy John Kerry walking out of talks in China this week without any new deals and Beijing arguing that problems in the relationship will hamper its cooperation with Washington to fight global warming.
Although the meetings succeeded in building “ground” in the relationship, tensions remained high. China wants the United States to lift restrictions on technology, curb its support for Taiwan, and stop what Beijing sees as a centralized containment strategy that builds security ties with U.S. allies and partners across Asia. Relations could further deteriorate if the Biden administration imposes new restrictions on US investments in Chinese companies involved in quantum computing, artificial intelligence and semiconductors.
Zhu Feng, Professor of International Relations at Nanjing University, Mr. Kissinger said his visit indicated “Beijing’s anxiety about how to influence and persuade American policy elites to ease their strategic restraint on China.”
Beijing often evokes the time when Mr. Kissinger served as secretary of state and paved the way for President Nixon’s historic visit to China in 1972, an example of a golden era in bilateral relations. That trip led to the establishment of diplomatic relations between Washington and Communist-ruled China seven years later.
As relations have soured in recent years, Chinese officials have said US officials should learn from Mr Kissinger and his pro-engagement stance.
To drive home that point again, China highlighted the historic significance of the location of Mr Xi’s meeting with Mr Kissinger on Thursday. Villa No. of the Diayutai State Guesthouse was opened by the Chinese authorities. 5, the same building where Mr. Kissinger had met Zhou Enlai, the Chinese premier at the time, half a century earlier.
“China and the United States relations will forever be associated with the name ‘Kissinger,'” Mr. Xi said, in a video released by CCTV, the state broadcaster, as the two men sat side by side in plush cream-colored armchairs. “I express my deepest respect to you.”
In an official summary of the meeting released by Chinese state media, Mr. Xi said: “I hope you and insightful people in the United States will continue to play a constructive role in bringing China-US relations back on the right track.”
Wang Yi, China’s top foreign affairs official, told Mr Kissinger a day earlier that US policy needed “Kissinger-style diplomatic wisdom and Nixon-style political courage”, according to China’s Foreign Ministry.
China is also courting American business leaders. Aside from Mr. Gates and Mr. Musk, Tim Cook and Jamie Dimon have visited China this year — giving some more high-level meetings with Chinese officials than Biden administration officials have received in months. The visits by business leaders are an opportunity for China to send a message domestically about foreign confidence in an economy facing an uncertain recovery.
During his trip to Beijing in March, Mr. Cook took selfies with fans at an Apple store and attended a government development forum – then seen as an important signal as China emerges from three years of strict coronavirus restrictions.
Two months later, Mr. Musk traveled to China and met with senior ministers and top leaders in Shanghai. In Chinese media reports, Mr. Musk, the head of Tesla and Twitter, was hailed as a proponent of free trade between the United States and China.
“Musk’s trip to China showed the firm confidence of US businesses in the Chinese market despite sounds of ‘decoupling’ from some Western politicians,” said the Communist Party tabloid Global Times.
With these meetings, Mr Xi appears to be trying to highlight the importance of trade ties between the two nations, and growing tensions in the relationship – as well as Washington’s restrictive policies – could put it at risk.
Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Stimson Center in Washington, said that message became more important for Beijing to emphasize after Chinese officials raided offices or interrogated staff at American consultancies such as Bain & Company.
“China as a whole wants to retain foreign investors, and what they are appealing to are large high-tech companies that can still see the attractiveness of the Chinese market,” Ms. Sun said.
“The Chinese believe that these business leaders enjoy greater freedom to operate outside of political correctness,” he said. “But the other part of it is that China wants to show that cooperation with China and following Beijing’s rules is profitable.”
Olivia Wang Contributed to the research.
