Visiting Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping met?in Washington on?Monday evening with several former senior U.S. officials, Xinhua reported.

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (L, front) is welcomed by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns upon his arrival in Washington, capital of the United States, Feb. 13, 2012. Xi Jinping arrived in Washington Monday afternoon, kicking off his official visit to the United States.?

Xi met with former U.S. secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, former U.S. treasury secretary Henry Paulson, former U.S. national security advisers Zbigniew Brzezinski, Brent Scowcroft and Sandy Berger, and former U.S. secretary of labor Elaine Chao.

This was Xi's first major event after he arrived in Washington?on Monday afternoon?for an official visit to the United States.

During the meeting, Xi hailed their contribution to?promoting the Sino-U.S. relations during different periods.

Kissinger made a secret visit to China in July 1971, paving the way for a groundbreaking 1972 summit meeting in Beijing between then U.S. President Richard Nixon and China's late Chairman Mao Zedong. Kissinger's visit opened a door for Sino-U.S. relations that had been closed for many years.

The two countries officially established diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial-level on Jan. 1, 1979.

Brzezinski was then U.S. President Jimmy Carter's national security advisor from 1977 to 1981, and made important contribution to the normalization of Sino-U.S. relations.