Chinese Whispers: what does it take to be an 'old friend of the Chinese people'?
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The Spectator
4.4 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 7 April 2025
⏱️ 38 minutes
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Summary
The term ‘old friend of the Chinese people’ might seem a colloquial, almost sentimental, phrase to appear in official diplomatic language, but in the Chinese context, those words have a very specific meaning. Most often, they refer to high profile foreigners whose actions have helped the Chinese Communist Party in one way or another. The most famous of these is Henry Kissinger, who led the way for American rapprochement with China.
That the CCP gives various foreigners this honour is revealing of China’s priorities over the decades, but also of its attempts to co-opt foreign forces to its cause. Think back to the United Front strategy, which we looked at on the podcast earlier in the year.
To discuss this honorific, Cindy is joined Professor Anne-Marie Brady, a China expert at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, who was among the first to look at China’s old friends as a serious political concept some 20 years ago, and Ryan Ho Kilpatrick, a journalist based in Hong Kong.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode of Chinese Whispers is sponsored by Alliance Witten Investment Trust. |
| 0:05.2 | From the OPEC oil crisis of the 1970s, the financial crash in 2008, to the COVID epidemic |
| 0:12.0 | and Liz Truss's doomed premiership. There has been no shortage of economic crises over the last 58 |
| 0:17.8 | years. And yet, throughout that time, every single year, without fail, |
| 0:22.8 | we've paid out an increased dividend to our shareholders. In fact, Alliance Witten's history |
| 0:28.3 | dates all the way back to 1888. And today, we manage around £5 billion in assets. |
| 0:35.5 | If you're looking for a less stressful way to invest in stocks and |
| 0:38.4 | shares, learn more about Alliance Witten and find your comfort zone. |
| 0:52.3 | Hello and welcome to Chinese Whispers with me, Cindy Yu. |
| 0:55.5 | Every episode I'll be talking to journalists, experts and long-time China watches about the latest in Chinese politics, society and more. |
| 1:03.3 | There'll be a smattering of history to catch you up on the background knowledge and some context as well. |
| 1:08.0 | How do the Chinese see these issues? |
| 1:14.0 | The term old friend might seem a colloquial, |
| 1:19.1 | almost sentimental phrase to appear in official diplomatic language. But in the Chinese context, |
| 1:24.0 | those words have a very specific meaning. Most often, they refer to high-profile foreigners whose actions have helped the Chinese Communist Party in one way or another. |
| 1:28.1 | The most famous of these is Henry Kissinger, who led the way for American reproschment with China. |
| 1:33.7 | That the CCP gives various foreigners this honour is revealing of China's priorities over the decades, |
| 1:39.0 | but also of its attempts to co-opt foreign forces to its cause. |
| 1:42.9 | Think back to the United Front strategy, which we looked at on the podcast early in the year. |
| 1:48.0 | To discuss this honorific now, I'm joined by Professor Anne-Marie Brady, a China expert at the |
| 1:53.0 | University of Canterbury and New Zealand, who was among the first to look at China's |
| 1:57.0 | old friends as a serious political concept some 20 years ago. |
... |
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