Former United States Secretary of State Dr Henry Kissinger addresses a seminar held in Beijing on Monday to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the USA and China. [Photo China.org.cn]

Former US Secretary of State Dr Henry Kissinger whose secret trip to China in 1971 paved the way for President Nixon's 1972 visit and eventually to full diplomatic relations said "When I arrived in China thirty eight years ago, if anyone had shown me a picture of what Beijing might look like 40 years later I would have believed it to be an absolute fantasy."

Dr Kissinger said that one of the reasons the relationship had developed so well was because it had started with a blank sheet. "When I first came here there was really nothing to talk about on the normal subjects of diplomacy; there was no trade, there were no visitors, the only subjects we could talk about were important subjects."

China's former foreign minister Li Zhaoxing drew attention to the myriad personal relationships that have developed between the peoples of China and America. He recalled how he had asked President Carter could China send five thousand students to study in America. "President Carter replied that we could send a hundred thousand. And now there are 400,000 Chinese students in America." Mr Li raised smiles in the audience when he said that the children of the current United States ambassador, Clark Randt speak better Mandarin than he, with his strong Shandong accent, does himself.

Former Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing addresses a seminar held in Beijing on Monday to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the USA and China. [Photo China.org.cn]

China's vice-foreign minister He Yafei said the depth of the relationship between the two countries was underlined by the several million people who travel between China and the USA each year. He added that American brands such as Starbucks are thriving in China and as American students learn Mandarin, Chinese students are busy studying for MBAs. He also pointed to cooperation and mutual assistance in the face of natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the Sichuan earthquake.

China's vice-foreign minister He Yafei addresses a seminar held in Beijing on Monday to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the USA and China. [Photo China.org.cn]

Asked about his hopes for the incoming American administration, Dr Brzezinski told China.org.cn "President-elect Obama has a keen understanding about what's new about our times and how America has to renovate its foreign policy and relate itself more directly and more constructively to the kinds of global changes that are taking place."

(China.org.cn by John Sexton and Zhou Jing January 12, 2009)