Old friends of the Chinese people

Old friends of the Chinese people (simplified Chinese: 中国人民的老朋友; traditional Chinese: 中國人民的老朋友), or Chinese people's old friends, is a special Chinese diplomatic term used by the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government and its main leaders to describe international friends who made contributions to China's construction. From 1949 to 2010, 601 foreigners, from 123 countries on five continents, were referred to as the "old friends" in the People's Daily.

Source: Wikipedia — Old friends of the Chinese people (CC BY-SA 4.0)