Premier Li Peng Tuesday told former Secretary of State Alexander Haig that Richard Nixon showed great foresight in developing China-U.S. ties.
Li also praised Henry Kissinger and Haig, saying "their contributions in this regard will go down in the annals of Sino-U.S. relations," the official Xinhua news agency said.Haig, a former Kissinger aide who served under Nixon, is now a private citizen and president of an international consulting agency. He is the most prominent American to visit China since the June 3-4 military crackdown on student-led demonstrators that took hundreds and perhaps thousands of lives.
The United States has since stopped all high-level official contacts and suspended arms sales to China, bringing relations to one of their lowest points since relations were normalized 10 years ago.
Haig, in Beijing to attend a business symposium, has been given a cordial reception by the Chinese. They invited him to sit on the Tiananmen Gate rostrum with China's top leaders Sunday evening.