Condolence message to his American counterpart, Joe Biden, on the death of veteran American diplomat Henry Kissinger (Henry Kissinger), Chinese President Xi Jinping sent, as announced today by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“THE Kissinger it was one “old good friend” of the Chinese people and will be remembered for his sincere dedication to Sino-American relations“, the ministry’s spokesman, Wang Wenbin, said during a press conference.

The ministry welcomed the “historical contribution” by Kissinger, who “has long supported the development of China-US relationsvisited China more than a hundred times and made a historic contribution to promoting the normalization of relations between the two countries.”

“A huge loss”

State television and social media users in China are paying tribute to the former US secretary of state today.

“An era in the history of the United States is ending,” wrote a user on the Chinese social network Weibo.

“He was an indispensable and important figure in Sino-American relations,” wrote another.

“This is a huge loss for our two countries and for the world,” Chinese ambassador to the United States Shi Feng wrote on X (formerly Twitter), saying he was “devastated.”

In a lengthy obituary published Thursday, the Chinese State TV CCTV praised the “his historic contribution to opening the door to Sino-American relations”.

Kissinger had seen his image tarnished by dark pages in the history of the United States, such as support for the 1973 coup in Chile or the invasion of East Timor in 1975 and, of course, the Vietnam War.

But in China, he has long been revered as an “old friend of the Chinese people” because he was one of the major players in the Washington-Beijing rapprochement in the 1970s, helping the Asian country break its isolation.

Kissinger visited China in July 2023, where he met with President Xi Jinping.

Henry Kissinger secretly traveled to Beijing in July 1971 to forge ties with the People’s Republic of China, paving the way for President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to the Chinese capital in 1972.

This hand extended to China ended the Asian giant’s isolation and contributed to Beijing’s rise, initially economically, to the world stage.

The former US Secretary of State and Nobel Peace Prize laureate made his fortune advising companies on how to invest in China.

During a joint press conference this year in Beijing, China’s current foreign minister, Wang Yi, said that “American policy toward China needs Kissinger-style diplomatic wisdom.”