Opinion | Why Henry Kissinger still matters to China

By Tom Fowdy

Last week veteran US statesman, Henry Kissinger, visited China and met with Xi Jinping. At 100 years of age, such a trip is truly remarkable. Considered an "old friend" by Beijing, Kissinger is controversial in some circles for his foreign policies while being US Secretary of State under Richard Nixon, yet is ultimately praised in China because he is the individual who spearheaded the normalization of relations between Washington and Beijing in the early 1970s, beginning with that unprecedented meeting in 1972 between Mao and Nixon.

The political attachment that China places to Henry Kissinger is demonstrative of the ideal relationship it would like to have with the United States. Kissinger's legacy opened up an era of engagement between Washington and China which lasted over 40 years from the 70s up until 2018, an era in which the two powers enjoyed a largely open, cooperative, stable and practical existence, a fraught contrast to the deterioration of relations which occurred following the election of Donald Trump and the descent into geopolitical competition, driven largely by Washington.

Recently, ties between the US and China have cooled, with high-level contacts and dialogue resuming. Although the fundamentals of the relationship have not changed in respect to Washington's goals and agenda, and seemingly are not about to, things have become more stable and the US has called off its hostility for the time being. Beijing has never made it a secret that it seeks greater stability in relations with the US, even as the geopolitical interests of both powers begin to irreconcilably clash, with China deeming a global cold war environment is ultimately detrimental to its own interests and growth, and subsequently seeking to avoid it at all costs.

Despite this, it also remains true that engaging with senior US politicians yields little in the way of positive results. Individuals such as Anthony Blinken and Jake Sullivan will discuss so-called "guardrails" but they will never contemplate ever making actual concessions to China beyond temporarily cooling down rhetoric. Even at the time of writing, it is obvious that despite US industry obsession, more sanctions and restrictions on Chinese technology are looming. It's not a matter of if, it's a question of "to what extent" which usually involves a to-and-fro debate amongst hawks and more reconciliatory individuals in the administration.

Yet these individuals in the White House don't even represent the worst end of the stick. Beyond that, US politics on China has been completely toxified. Congress represents a fathoming hotbed of mass hysteria and pure hatred towards Beijing, which considerably constrains the administration's foreign policy options. Engagement has become a politically toxic path to take, which is why the administration so easily caves to any Anti-China cause that gains momentum, a significant factor regarding the breakdown of diplomacy in and of itself. It's a ticking time bomb.

Because of this, China has sought to re-frame its strategy of engagement with the United States by focusing on the figures it deems most productive, which usually stand outside of frontline politics. Henry Kissinger, a US foreign policy veteran whose life spans a century and is regarded as a source of wisdom and respect, is one such figure. But prominent businessmen, including Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Tim Cook, have also been invited to visit Beijing accordingly. While businessmen can lobby Washington D.C, howsoever in vain it may be, Kissinger nonetheless represents a gold standard of US-China relations and a legacy that contemporary politicians are determined to unravel.

By showcasing such public diplomacy, Beijing endeavors to send a message and keep it alive, using these people as citizen ambassadors and thus attempting to channel public discourse in certain ways. This is a reminder that despite everything, China has not "given up hope" on the United States and aptly recognizes that increasing confrontation with Washington only serves to add fuel to the fire and promote outcomes that are detrimental to itself, which has been a key lesson on display from Russia's conflict in Ukraine. China ultimately sees the importance of diplomacy and restraint, not confrontation, as much as it may resent what the US is currently doing. Patience, strategy and selective engagement is key, and keeping the legacy of the 1970s alive, is a big part of that.

The author is a well-seasoned writer and analyst with a large portfolio related to China topics, especially in the field of politics, international relations and more. He graduated with an Msc. in Chinese Studies from Oxford University in 2018.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

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