Kissinger’s last mission: China sends condolences to Biden for loss of ‘valued friend old’ to Beijing – months after the 100-year-old towering diplomat met Xi Jinping in one of his final trips
China sent warm condolences to Joe Biden after the death of Henry Kissinger, who was considered a diplomatic “pioneer” in Beijing and a man who “understood” the country’s role in the world.
Kissinger visited China more than 100 times, and his death on Wednesday at age 100 sparked widespread mourning among ordinary Chinese on social media and respectful coverage in state media.
He made a final surprise trip to Beijing in July to meet Xi Jinping, while senior Biden administration officials were treated with disdain and given only audiences with lesser figures.
Kissinger, who was already 100 years old at the time, was warmly welcomed by Xi Jinping as an “old friend.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) talks with former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger during a meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing, Thursday, July 20, 2023.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) and former National Security Advisor and US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger during a political speech to Chinese and US leaders during a dinner in Seattle, Washington, US, 22 September 2015.
By the time he arrived, relations between Washington and Beijing had plummeted to a new low.
In February, a Chinese spy balloon flew over the United States and was shot down.
Around the same time, Kissinger visited Biden’s climate envoy John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen traveled to Beijing, but Xi Jinping did not meet with them.
Alfred Wu, a professor at the National University of Singapore, said Kissinger was portrayed in China as “far-sighted” and someone “benevolent in easing tensions between the two countries.”
His last mission to China came more than half a century after his groundbreaking visit in 1971, when he was President Richard Nixon’s national security adviser.
That paved the way for Nixon’s historic visit the following year after a two-decade freeze in diplomatic relations between Washington and Beijing.
After Kissinger’s death, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said: “Dr. Kissinger was a good old friend of the Chinese people. He is a pioneer and builder of China-US relations.
A giant screen outside a shopping mall shows footage of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on July 20, 2023.
“China and the United States should promote Kissinger’s strategic vision, political courage and diplomatic wisdom, and promote the healthy, stable and sustainable development of China-US relations.”
Kissinger has made “historic” achievements and China has welcomed his “sincere dedication” to diplomacy, Wang added.
Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang sent telegrams of condolences to Kissinger’s family and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Brian Wong, a geopolitical strategist at the University of Hong Kong, said that in China Kissinger was seen as “the man in America who understood the Chinese people.”