Xi has plenty of issues with the current US government, but he welcomed Henry Kissinger to China a few days ago. What kind of message is he trying to send?
Kissinger is his kind of American, for three reasons. First, as a foreign policy realist, Kissinger notoriously downplays human rights issues in autocracies as a motivating factor in American foreign policy. He couldn’t care less about Hong Kong or the Uighurs. Second, Kissinger is level-headed and indifferent to the passions in American politics; he is a man with whom one can do business regardless of the state of public opinion. Finally, Xi probably believes that Kissinger would recommend acquiescence to a Chinese sphere of influence in Asia, based on his admiration of Metternich and the system he created after the Napoleonic Wars. In the end, that’s really the question: will American accept Chinese domination of most of Asia without a fight, or not?