Kissinger was the one on the U.S. side who engineered the opening of diplomatic and trade relations with China, back when he served in the Nixon administration. As much as this move aided the US in winning the Cold War against the USSR by taking advantage of the Sino-Soviet split, it also allowed China to flourish first because the U.S. was no longer openly backing the KMTs claims over China (China got to take their seat in the UN and Taiwan was out) and later by allowing massive amounts of American capital to flow into China, boosting the speed of their development of productive forces. Many in China likely see Kissinger (and Nixon) positively because in a way they helped China into the position it is now in (superpower status).

Also, "who had a sharp vision and a thorough understanding of world affairs" is true, despite the fact that he is an evil ghoul, he was a very competent one with a solid understanding of the way the world works. We can be thankful that not many people like that seem to be at the reigns of power on the US side anymore.