Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, meets with former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018. Official China called Kissinger “an old friend.” A commentator likened him to a giant panda, a goodwill ambassador between two countries that have been more often at odds over the decades than not. Kissinger, who died Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023, developed a special relationship with China in the second half of his 100-year-long life.(Thomas Peter/Pool Photo via AP, File)