“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.
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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