BEIJING, Sept.?13 (Xinhuanet) -- Henry Alfred Kissinger served as U.S. National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State under administration of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. His advice is sought by many subsequent presidents even after his term. Always a good friend to Chinese people, Dr. Kissinger's talk with then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1971 led to the rapprochement of U.S. and China. People's Daily had an exclusive interview with Dr. Kissinger at his office in New York on September 10th, 2015.

People’s Daily: Dr.Kissinger, you have met President Xi several times. It's not easy at all to govern a country like China. What's your impression of Xi?

Dr. Kissinger: I have had many conversations with President Xi. He is a man of great determination, who has strong lessons from the experiences of his life, and so I think he is among the rank of the most significant of China.

People’s Daily: President Xi is going to pay a state visit to U.S., what should top the list of president Xi’s state visit and what are your expectations for this visit?

Dr. Kissinger: What is most important for China and U.S. both is to base their policy on the recognition that they are two great countries who need to work in cooperation, not in confrontation- that is the key thing. And then they should apply this conclusion to a number of concrete issues, and I am very hopeful that progress would be made. I am of a different political party from President Obama, but I fully support efforts by president Obama to achieve these objectives.