Amid the United State's effort to normalize relations with China, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger paid a surprise visit to Beijing where he was welcomed by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Kissinger's trip comes amid a flurry of visits to China by top US officials in the last two months. 100 years old Kissinger played a crucial role in helping China emerge from diplomatic isolation in the 1970s.
 
The US has maintained that Kissinger is visiting China as a private citizen and not as a US official. However, given his outsized stature, Kissinger could act as a backchannel for US-China negotiations, said several reports. After the meeting, Xi Jinping said that China will never forget its old friends and will not forget Kissinger's historical contributions to developing US-China relations.
 
The statement also quoted Kissinger as saying neither the United States nor China can afford to treat the other as an adversary. A State Department spokesman had earlier said that they were aware of Kissinger's trip and would not be surprised if he decided to brief them upon his return.