In his message of condolence sent to President Biden on Nov. 30 over the passing of Dr. Henry Kissinger, Chinese president Xi Jinping said, “Kissinger was… an old friend and good friend of the Chinese people… Kissinger had made it his lifelong pursuit to promote the development of China-U.S. relations…Kissinger will always be remembered and missed by the Chinese people.”
So how do ordinary Chinese people remember, especially by way of social media, their good old friend Henry Kissinger? Here is a sample of their posts on Weibo under hashtag #Kissinger Passes Away# from Dec. 1-7 following the death of Kissinger on Nov. 29.
Alain Wang QB: “A truly anti-American person will not forget or forgive Kissinger’s crimes in Indochina, East Timor, Chile, Argentina.”
Brother X selection: “Are they pro-China? No! They are only pro-themselves! They are rational, courageous, and ready to instantly switch enemies and friends, all to maximize the interests of the United States and themselves! Such politicians would never appear again in the United States. So long, Kissinger!”
Like grain: “One hundred years and 100-year-old Jewish Kissinger left us. In my view, he was one of a few in the United States who were our rare, great, and honorable adversaries. He deserves our condolences and remembrance.”
Think thrice about freedom: “Labels for a good man or a bad man could only be applied to people we interact with in our lives, not on strangers, especially politicians or statesmen. Kissinger was an old friend of the Chinese people. It does not mean that he was an old friend of the people of the world or even less an internationalist fighter. His On China published in 2011, for instance, brought criticisms from many in the West. Their main argument was that he did not condemn China on human rights, betraying Western values.”
Sunny rainy windy day: “A living fossil in textbooks finally entered history. It is fine that Chinese pay some attention. But to go on and on sentimentally about ‘an old friend of the Chinese people’ is not necessary! It is a bad thing sometimes when someone dies, it could also be a good thing. For the ‘knowing China’ but not ‘pro-China’ Dr. Kissinger, him being dead is definitely more beneficial to China than being alive!”
A friend of lawyers: “In fact, Kissinger and Deng Xiaoping were very much alike in their pragmatism in foreign affairs. Comrade Deng’s words on foreign policy such as keeping a low profile, biding your time, never taking the lead, etc. were brilliantly pragmatic. While Kissinger wrote that in foreign affairs, the United States ‘had no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests.’ He also famously said, ‘The most fundamental problem of politics is not control of evil, but limits of moral justice.’”
Imperial official of Xiping County: “In May 2005, Kissinger was visiting China. He wanted to meet an army unit that had fought in the Korean War. Someone suggested Yang Gensi company. I would not need to elaborate too much here about the deeds of Yang and his company. After listening to the introduction at the company, Kissinger gave an interesting reaction. Thinking for a long time, he then wrote down these words, ‘I Hope that China and the U.S. would never go to war with each other again.’”
Elephant moving bricks: “Kissinger visited China for more than one hundred times. He was said to be the American who knew China best. With China’s national power surpassing that of the former Soviet Union, those master chess players of the Cold War have left us one after another. Traces of the old era are disappearing. Turning our head, we find ourselves in a different era of turbulent winds and clouds.”
Zhang BM: “What eventually will lead to mankind’s demise will not be nuclear weapons, but artificial intelligence! – Kissinger”
Zhao LM: “Sino-U.S. relations are not what they used to be. There will not be another Kissinger in the U.S.”
Si MN: “Both Kissinger and Brzezinski said clearly, and emphasized many times, that the least favorable position and most stupid geopolitical behavior for the United States was targeting both China and Russia as enemies. Now as Kissinger died, the U.S. was busy doing exactly that.”
