BEIJING - China’s foreign ministry on Nov 30 hailed the late US diplomat Henry Kissinger for his “historic contributions” to China-US ties, describing him as an “old and good friend of the Chinese people”.

Dr Kissinger “had long been concerned about and supported the development of China-US relations, visiting China more than a hundred times and making historic contributions to promote the normalisation of China-US relations”, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.

“During his life, Dr Kissinger attached great importance to China-US relations and believed that they were vital to the peace and prosperity of the two countries and the world,” Mr Wang said.

Dr Kissinger, a former US Secretary of State whose unapologetic promotion of raw American power helped shape the post-World War II world, died on Nov 29.

In China, he is granted the sobriquet of “old friend of the Chinese people” for his part in establishing ties back in the 1970s and helping bring the country out of its Mao-era isolation.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who met Kissinger in Beijing in July, has sent a message of condolence to US President Joe Biden over his death, Mr Wang said.

Premier Li Qiang and Foreign Minister Wang Yi have also sent messages of condolence, he added.

“Both China and the United States should inherit and carry forward Dr. Kissinger’s strategic vision, political courage, and diplomatic wisdom,” Mr Wang said.

That meant the two countries should “adhere to mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation in accordance with the important consensus”, he added.

In a lengthy obituary on Nov 30, Beijing’s state broadcaster CCTV hailed his “historic contribution to the opening of the door to US-China relations”.

Dr Kissinger, it said, was “an important witness who experienced the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States and the development of the relationship between the two countries”.

“Kissinger had a deep bond with China,” it said, noting his “many meetings with Chinese leaders”.

As national security advisor to then-US president Richard Nixon, Dr Kissinger secretly flew to Beijing in 1971 on a mission to establish relations with communist China.

The trip set the stage for a landmark visit by Mr Nixon, who sought both to shake up the Cold War and enlist help in ending the Vietnam War.

Washington’s overtures to an isolated Beijing contributed to China’s rise to become a manufacturing powerhouse and the world’s second-largest economy.

‘Historic contribution’

Since leaving office, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Kissinger grew wealthy advising businesses on China – and had warned against a hawkish turn in US policy.

Chinese officials have struggled in recent years to hide their nostalgia for the days of rapprochement under Dr Kissinger.

During a meeting with the late secretary of state in Beijing in 2023, top diplomat Wang Yi said that “US policy toward China needs Kissinger-style diplomatic wisdom”.

And President Xi told him the Chinese people would “never forget our old friend and your historic contribution to promoting the development of China-US relations”.

Online, where the late diplomat’s death was in the top trending topics on both social media platform Weibo and the Google-like Baidu, users said Dr Kissinger had been “still doing his best for difficult US-China relations” in the years leading up to his death.

“He was a very good rival and partner,” one user wrote, adding “his passing is an incalculable loss to both China and the United States”.

Another said his death represented a “watershed moment” at a time of China’s ascension as a world power.

“From now on, it’s the beginning of our rise and for the US to go down.” AFP