In what was a very unusual encounter, Chinese Defense Minister Li Shengfu on July 18 met with Henry Kissinger, who was on a visit to Beijing. Li, of course, who remains under U.S. sanctions for work he did in purchasing Russian weapons for the Chinese military during an earlier posting, has consistently refused to meet with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin until the U.S. takes measures to relieve its pressure on China, possibly by lifting the sanctions on General Li.
Nevertheless, he is obviously interested in talking with the U.S. side and in re-establishing military-to-military relations at the highest level. In his discussion with Kissinger, Li emphasized that the U.S. and China bore a major responsibility for maintaining prosperity and stability in the world, and that the peaceful development of China was a blessing for the world, not a disaster. He complained that some people in the U.S. do not want to meet China halfway and underlined President Xi’s insistence on mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation as the basis for such discussions
