China’s ambassador to the US, Xie Fang, today described the death of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, an architect of the rapprochement between Beijing and Washington in the 1970s, as a “huge loss”.

“I am deeply shocked and saddened by the news of Dr. Kissinger’s death at the age of 100,” Ambassador Xie said via X (formerly Twitter), in China’s first official reaction to the news.

Access to this social networking site is blocked in China.

“This is a huge loss for our two countries and for the world,” the Chinese diplomat added, according to which “the centenarian’s contribution to China-US relations will go down in history” and “will forever remain alive in the hearts of the Chinese people as a precious old friend”.

Henry Kissinger played a key role in US rapprochement with Mao Zedong’s (1949-1976) China, making top-secret trips to Beijing to organize former US President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to the Chinese capital in 1972.

This approach put an end to the isolation of the Asian giant and contributed to the rapid rise of its power on the world stage, above all at the level of the economy.

Henry Kissinger, who celebrated his 100th birthday in May, continued to be a privileged interlocutor with many of the world’s powerful people, even though it had been decades since he was no longer in charge of American foreign policy.

In July, when he went to Beijing and was received by China’s president, Xi Jinping called him a “legendary diplomat.”