That 1971 trip had proved seminal and the next year US president, Richard Nixon, visited China heralding establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. It also resulted in the worst diplomatic pole vault by the Americans as they snapped formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Kissinger brought in a transactional approach to diplomacy which ended ideological support for the democratic Taiwan, against Communiust Party led China. With that began US espousal of membership of China in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The rest is all history now.
In the subsequent decades, China fully exploited the free trade framework of WTO to push forward its one-point agenda for increasing exports and build up its economy. USA realised its mistake of conceding blind-folded Chinese “predatory” economic practices —a term coined by US administration. China had kept its markets closed while fully took advantage of the open trading framework.
The blunder was realised much later but by that time China had fully developed its economic muscles. It was only during the term of immediate past president, Donald Trump, that US started imposing punitive tariffs on China. Donald Trump realised the predatory nature of Chinese economic policy seeing what it had done to the US economy — China toted up huge trade surplus and American industries been decimated.
After gaining iits economic muscles it began flexing its diplomatic and security muscles. Is Henry Kissinger beginning a phase of appeasement to that multi-faceted power the way European powers had done to Hitler in the 1930s or to Vladimir Putin when he began choking Ukraine of gas supplies, when Putin withdrew Russia from a key treaty on limiting conventional arms in Europe, he invaded Georgia and took Crimea in 2014.
Chinese numerous aggressive postures in recent years have been somewhat ignored. China flouted its promises not to militarise the numerous islands in the international waters of South China Seas turning these once uninhabited islands into full-fledged military bases, China harassed Philippine's vessels in its own territorial waters and numerous other instances.
China is now skirting established diplomatic channels to promote its own narrative of China in the world by holding talks with only those who have fallen in line with its own views. China wants tributaries of nations and not peers.
Significantly, the Chinese president, XI, met Henry Kissinger, who now is visiting in the capacity of a private citizen, while he refused to grant audience to the Biden cabinet members John Kerry, who had come as US Environment Ambassador for Climate Talks. Xi did not meet Janet Yellen, Treasury Secretary either.
The question is whether the current pow-wow between centenarian private citizen Kissinger and current president Xi would lead to a reversal of US policy towards China. If so, then how far countries which are now confronting China on various issues (like border disputes), really could go on depending on US support. This is not just an issue of US China relations but of reliability of US as an ally.
Incidentally, it is this same Henry Kissinger, in his heydays of high diplomatic operator, had called Indians “bastards” in the difficult days of Pakistan-Bangladesh war.
China is now making it clear that it prefers non-official people who are blatantly “pro-China” than officials of the current US administration. It is seeking to fracture US approach at ground zero in US itself. It will suit China’s purposes if US think tanks and some senior diplomatic spokespersons give the narrative of US-China relations that China is seeking to push.
Reports indicate that China, which works by signals, had been particularly meticulous in conveying to what extent it was “entertaining” Kissinger. XI met “old friend” in informal and cordial environs than the distant and dominating manner in which it had met with US secretary of state, Anthony Blinken.
Xi sat at the same small tea table across with Kissinger. However, Xi’s meeting with Anthony Blinken was at a huge table with the two delegations— US and Chinese— on two sides of the table and at the head was at a distance Xi Jinping.
The signals are clear. China under Xi Jinping is maintaining the distant posture with official US delegations while trying to woo the non-official and private versions of people fundamentally soft towards China.
It is to be seen whether thecurrent US administration continues to play hardball diplomacy than be namby-pamby with the old Kissingerian approach. Maybe, it is time to call in the bluffs and pay Kissinger back in the same coin in which he had once described Indians. (IPA Service)
ROYAL TREATMENT TO 100 YEAR OLD HENRY KISSINGER BY CHINESE SUPREMO XI JINGPING
BEIJING’s SIGNALS SHOULD CAUSE WORRY TO THE WHITE HOUSE AND PENTAGON
Anjan Roy - 2023-07-21 10:45
A hundred year old Henry Kissinger, met with the Chinese president and supreme leader of the country, Xi Jingping, this week although the latter did not meet US cabinet members of Biden administration recently. Kissinger was reportedly received in the same diplomatic guest house in Beijing where the former was received on his first visit in 1971.