CHINESE President Xi Jinping said Saturday that history and people will remember Fidel Castro, calling the Cuban revolutionary leader “a great figure of our times.”

    Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks in a message of condolences to Raul Castro, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, president of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers of Cuba, after Fidel Castro died late Friday at the age of 90.

    “In the name of the CPC, the Chinese Government and people, and in my own name, I express my deepest condolences on the death of Comrade Fidel Castro and sincerest sympathy to his family,” Xi said.

    Fidel Castro, founder of the Communist Party of Cuba and Cuba’s socialist cause, was a great leader of the Cuban people, Xi said, adding that he has made immortal historic contributions and devoted all his life to the Cuban people’s great cause of struggling for national liberation, safeguarding state sovereignty, and building socialism.

    Xi said the China-Cuba relationship has enjoyed great development since the two countries forged diplomatic ties 56 years ago thanks to Fidel Castro’s solicitude efforts.

    “The death of Fidel Castro has made the Chinese people lose a close comrade and sincere friend. His glorious image and great achievements will go down in history,” Xi said. “The great Comrade Fidel Castro will be forever remembered.”

    U.S. President Barack Obama noted that while “discord and profound political disagreements” marked the relationship between the United States and Cuba for nearly six decades, Americans were extending “a hand of friendship to the Cuban people” during their time of grief.

    “History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular figure on the people and world around him,” Obama said.

    U.S. President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter to share a thought that proved pithy even for the medium: “Fidel Castro is dead!”

    China and Cuba established diplomatic relations in 1960, but it wasn’t until 35 years later that Fidel Castro came to China for the first time.

    Castro paid a nine-day visit to China in December 1995 and went to Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

    He made a special trip to China’s Great Wall and tasted roast duck at the famous Beijing Quanjude Duck Restaurant. According to Xu Yicong, China’s former ambassador to Cuba, Castro also liked the Chinese sweet osmanthus flavored wine.

    Castro had met with President Xi and former Chinese presidents Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao.

    In his meeting with President Xi in July 2014, Castro said he cherishes the memory of his friendly exchanges with China and believes the bilateral relations will yield fruitful results under the guidance of Xi and Cuban leaders.

    His latest meeting with a Chinese leader was with Premier Li Keqiang in Havana, Cuba, on Sept. 25, 2016. (SD-Xinhua)

    (More on P5)