NEW YORK, Aug. 8 (Xinhuanet) --
The late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping was one of the greatest men of the
20th century, who contributed a great deal to China's development, said
former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in a recent interview with
Xinhua on the occasion of Deng's 100th birthday.
"In current
China, it is unimaginable without Deng Xiaoping. It is a case where one
man makes a decisive difference. Almost everything that is happening in
the current reform, I have heard him saying at some point 15 years ago. Of
course, it has evolved in a way that was unimaginable even when he was
still alive. His contribution to current China is decisive," the US
statesman said.
"The reform in
China was initiated by him. I had the honor of hearing him explaining to
me on many occasions. I had the honor of being able to compare what he
said to me in 1974 and again in 1979with what actually happened. Very few
statesmen can say they achieve their own predictions," he said.
As one of the foreign guests who met
Deng most often, Kissinger said he was impressed by Deng's charisma as a
statesman and as an ordinary person. He described Deng Xiaoping as "a man
of few words who had the great ability to sum up a subject and reduce it
to a few sentences, so he got a lot of businesses done in a limited period
of time."
Kissinger also recalled how Deng
Xiaoping invited him to his favorite dish, Mongolian hot pot, in a
restaurant. "It is not often done by Chinese leaders to invite a guest to
a restaurant," said Kissinger, noting that though they had an exclusive
room, it was in a regular restaurant, not a state guest house. This
indicates that Deng took him as a friend and treated him in an informal
manner, he added.
On another occasion, said Kissinger,
he happened to be in Seattle when Deng Xiaoping was traveling through the
city during his visit to the United States. Kissinger left a note at
Deng's hotel, asking to visit him in his hotel room.
"I got the message back, saying since
I already called him in Washington, now he owed me a visit. He walked from
his hotel to my hotel, to my room, creating absolute chaos among the
security people," Kissinger said.
On US-China relations, the former
secretary of state said a strong and prosperous China would make huge
contribution to the development of the world.
"As long as I know Deng Xiaoping, he
was a strong advocate of close relations with the United States and
friendship with the United States. I think the current Chinese leaders,
the third generation of Chinese leaders and the fourth generation of
Chinese leaders also carry this legacy of Deng Xiaoping," he
said.
He noted that as the world is faced
with a host of new problems and new situations, such as terrorism,
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and the emergence of
countries as new major international players, it requires a change in the
traditional ways of looking at foreign policy.
"But at the same time I think the
solution of all problems is greatly eased when China and the United States
work together. The development of US-China relations benefit not only the
two peoples, but people of all Asia and the world," Kissinger said.
