Xi hails ‘old friend’ Kissinger during meeting that harks back to an era of warmer ties By Nectar Gan , CNN Updated 4:57 AM EDT, Thu July 20, 2023 Henry Kissinger celebrated his 100th birthday on June 20, 2023. ddp images/SIPAPRE/Sipa/AP Hong Kong CNN — Chinese leader Xi Jinping hailed Henry Kissinger as an “old friend” during a meeting with the 100-year-old former US Secretary of State who is in Beijing this week for a surprise visit . Xi met Kissinger at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, a diplomatic complex in western Beijing where Kissinger was received during his first visit to China in 1971, state broadcaster CCTV reported. Since then, Kissinger has visited China more than 100 times, Xi noted in the meeting. In July 1971, Kissinger became the first high-ranking US official to visit Communist China. His secret meetings with Chinese leaders paved the way for then US President Richard Nixon’s “ice-breaking” trip the following year. In the decades that followed, US-China ties bloss
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