• John Thornton, one of few to maintain access to some of China’s most powerful officials, met Wang Qishan early this year
  
• The Wall Street executive has no government role, but bridges the US-China divide like Henry Kissinger in 1971, source says
  

In late January, soon after Joe Biden  entered the White House, Chinese Vice-President Wang Qishan  had a long conversation with an American guest in Beijing.

John Thornton  , a Wall Street veteran who had previously headed Goldman Sachs, is an old friend who had known Wang, President Xi Jinping’s right-hand man, when he was still a mid-level official in the 1990s.

The pair steered their conversation far beyond day-to-day politics and talked about Chinese and American history, the clash of civilisations and one of the most sensitive topics surrounding the two countries’ relations: the legitimacy of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

Thornton, now the executive chairman of Barrick Gold, relayed the message of the new US administration’s priorities: fighting the pandemic, reviving the economy and reuniting a divided America. He said the personal ties between Xi and Biden could help repair relations, and that there was space for the two nations to sit down and discuss trade.