Event held to mark 50th anniversary of Kissinger visit

Chas W. Freeman, who was not on Kissinger's secret mission but was studying Chinese in 1971, said: "In the Shanghai Communique (of 1972), both sides acknowledged that our socioeconomic systems and history is different. Nonetheless, we have things we can cooperate about, so let's set those differences aside and get on with cooperation."

"And it worked. It was very good for the United States and for China. So I completely disagree with the assertion that engagement failed. And I hope we will reengage in the spirit with which Dr. Kissinger opened this relationship," Freeman said.

Tang Wensheng, the interpreter whom Kissinger called "the formidable Nancy Tang" in his memoir, recalled Kissinger stood "very straight up to show courtesy" and looked "pretty tense". She learned from Kissinger later that was because he was wearing a shirt borrowed from a member of his delegation.

Tang also recalled that Kissinger sat down at the table with a huge binder, while Premier Zhou did not even have a talking point. Then after the US side voiced a statement that the US does not support "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan", the premier said," Well, we can start the conversation now."

"I think that was exactly a testament to the fact that the two sides have common understandings, and the Shanghai Communique did cover a lot of convergent grounds," she said. "I think this spirit continues to apply today and needs to be preserved."

Speaking at Friday's panel featuring "Beneficiaries of the Visit", Benjamin D. Harburg, the managing partner of MSA Capital, a global investment firm, said China and the US are "hugely synergistic" and decoupling would only hurt.

Harburg, whose father was a pilot who flew Kissinger to China via Pakistan in that historic trip, said today's US-China dialogue is "very much" characterized by a lot of bias and misinformation.

"Our constant refrain is to put people on a plane, bring them here to China, let them understand what's transpiring here on the ground in China and likewise send academics, policymakers and businessmen, back to the United States," he said.

The purpose, he said, is to establish that baseline understanding and thereafter engage in a constructive dialogue which "isn't tainted by political bias, or by individual personal interests, but rather a mutually shared destiny that these two countries share in improving themselves and improving the world around them".