Henry Kissinger, the 100-year-old former US Secretary of State who is in Beijing this week for a surprise visit, met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday -- a day after US climate envoy John Kerry wrapped up his trip to restart climate talks with China.

Xi met Kissinger at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, a diplomatic complex in western Beijing where China's leaders often receive foreign dignitaries, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

The meeting comes after Kissinger met with China's top diplomat Wang Yi and Defense Minister Li Shangfu, who has been under US sanction since 2018 over China's purchase of Russian weapons.

Kissinger's meeting with Xi is indicative of how highly he is regarded by China's leadership.

His previously unannounced visit overlapped with Kerry's high-profile visit to Beijing, which saw US and China resume climate talks that had been frozen for nearly a year.

Noticeably, Kerry, who is also a former US Secretary of State, was not granted an audience with Xi, despite being a serving member of President Joe Biden's current administration and anticipation by some observers beforehand that such a face to face could be on the cards.

Kissinger, who said he was in Beijing "as a friend of China," played a key role in paving the way for the US to establish diplomatic ties with Communist China half a century ago during the Nixon administration.

The former diplomat has visited China more than 100 times since 1971, when he paid a secret visit to Beijing to pave the way for Nixon's "ice-breaking" trip the following year, CCTV reported.