Chinese Defense Minister and Kissinger Discussed Sino-US Relations

(Patria) - The United States should have a sound strategic judgment in its relations with China, Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu said at a meeting with veteran US diplomat Henry Kissinger in Beijing, Reuters reported.

China is committed to building stable, predictable, and constructive Sino-US relations and hopes the United States can work with it to promote the healthy development of relations between their two militaries, Li said, according to the Ministry of Defense.

Washington was aware of Kissinger's trip to China, but he is a private citizen and was not acting on behalf of the US government, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said. The meeting followed recent visits to China by top US officials, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, which aimed to ease tensions between the two superpowers. The talks took place
as high-level defense dialogue between China and the United States remained frozen, and military deployments across East Asia intensified.

Li's meeting with Kissinger laid out Sino-US relations. He said that "some people on the US side have not moved in the same direction as China, resulting in China-US relations hovering at a low point since the establishment of diplomatic relations," according to a statement from the Chinese Ministry of Defense. "We have always been committed to building stable, predictable, and constructive Sino-US relations and hope that the US will work with China to implement the consensus of the heads of state of the two countries and jointly
promote the healthy and stable development of relations between the two militaries," it added.
Kissinger said that "the United States and China should eliminate misunderstandings, coexist peacefully, and avoid confrontation. History and practice have constantly proven that neither the United States nor China can afford to treat the other as an adversary."

Kissinger, now 100 years old, served as US Secretary of State and National Security Advisor in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. He played a key role in normalizing relations between Washington and Beijing in the 1970s and has visited China and met regularly with Chinese officials since leaving office.

Chinese officials informed Blinken during meetings in Beijing last month that Kissinger would be visiting, Miller told a regular news briefing. Kissinger might later brief US officials on his meetings, as he has done in the past, the spokesperson said.

"I will say that he was there of his own volition, not on behalf of the United States government," Miller added.