The first batch of "old friends", represented by Edgar Snow and Ma Haide,[9] were foreigners who had visited Yan'an during the Second Sino-Japanese War and assisted the Chinese Communist Revolution.
The second batch of "old friends", represented by Norodom Sihanouk,[9] were the leaders of the Third World and Eastern Bloc who had supported each other internationally after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
The third batch of "old friends", represented by Henry Kissinger[9] and Richard Nixon,[10] were the private individuals and foreign dignitaries who had contributed to the normalization of China's diplomacy in the 1970s.
During a July 2023 meeting with Kissinger in Beijing, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping said, “The Chinese people never forget their old friends, and Sino-U.S. relations will always be linked with the name of Henry Kissinger.”[11] The fourth batch of "old friends", represented by George H. W. Bush and Jacques Chirac,[12] are those who, after China's reform and opening up, have helped China to integrate into the world order and stand on the international stage.
[14]: 42 For example, during diplomatic visits to other countries, Xi has praised the contributions of people like Claire Lee Chennault, Norman Bethune, Dawarkanath Kotnis, and Soviet pilots.