South China Morning Post
Thu, August 31, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping has hailed the second world war American general Joseph Stilwell as an "old friend" of the nation in a letter to his grandson, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Xi also called for more exchanges between the people of China and the United States in the letter, the report on Thursday said.
"General Stilwell is an old friend of the Chinese people, who provided active support for China's liberation and progress, and made positive contributions to the friendly relations between the Chinese and American people," Xi wrote in the letter.
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He said Chinese people would not forget Stilwell's contribution.
Stilwell worked closely with Chinese leaders - then under the Kuomintang - in Chongqing against the Japanese invasion during the second world war, and his former home in the southwestern city has been turned into a museum.
American general Joseph Stilwell worked closely with Chinese leaders against Japanese forces. Photo: Handout alt=American general Joseph Stilwell worked closely with Chinese leaders against Japanese forces. Photo: Handout>
Xi's letter - dated Tuesday - was a response to the late general's grandson, John Easterbrook, who recently wrote to Xi about Stilwell's efforts in China and those of his descendants to improve cultural exchanges between the two nations, according to Xinhua.
Xi said people-to-people connections were the foundation of the bilateral relationship.
"The people of both countries should enhance exchanges, deepen understanding, and expand cooperation, continuously injecting new impetus into the development of bilateral relations," Xi said.
He wrote that China and the US could "certainly achieve mutual success and shared prosperity" in the future, noting their success in working together to defeat Japan in the second world war.
It comes amid growing efforts by Beijing to leverage such connections in the hope of improving ties with Washington that have deteriorated in recent years over everything from trade and technology to the South China Sea and Taiwan.
Visitors at the Stilwell Museum in Chongqing earlier this month.
In the past two months in Beijing, Xi has met another "old friend" of China, former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger - who in the early 1970s helped rebuild bilateral ties after two decades of confrontation - and "American friend" and billionaire Bill Gates.
And just three weeks ago, Yuan Jiajun, a Politburo member and the Communist Party chief of Chongqing, met Stilwell's descendants at a high-profile commemoration for the general in the city.
There have also been more official exchanges between the two nations in recent months - the latest, a four-day visit to Beijing by US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, which she called "an important beginning" for ties between the two powers.
Tensions have been rising in the region, including over a new three-way intelligence-sharing and defence pact between the US, Japan and South Korea.
A row has also broken out between China and neighbouring Japan after it started releasing treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant last week, prompting a Chinese ban on Japanese seafood.
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