World reacts to death of Kissinger, aged 100
By September 1972, Kissinger was not only Nixon's point man for foreign
affairs but also a key figure in the president's reelection campaign.
(Photo published with permission of the Nixon Presidential Material Staff,
Nation Archives and Research Administration [NARA])
1 Dec 2023 - The Guardian
Helen Davidson - Chi Hui Lin - Martin Pengelly
Washington Additional reporting Andrew Roth, Chi Hui Lin, Justin McCurry, Lam Nguyen and Lorenzo Tondo
‘The US has lost one of the most dependable
and distinctive voices on foreign affairs’
- George W Bush Former US president
World leaders have offered condolences and praise for Henry Kissinger, a former US Secretary of State, who died on Wednesday at the age of 100. His death elicited sharply divided responses over his legacy.
Kissinger shared the 1973 Nobel peace prize for his role in negotiating an end to the Vietnam war, but his foreign policy efforts in support of US interests were controversial, and his involvement in foreign conflicts and in overthrowing democratically elected governments saw him branded a war criminal by critics.
A Rolling Stone magazine headline said: “Henry Kissinger, war criminal beloved by America’s ruling class, finally dies.”
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said Kissinger was a “wise and talented statesman”.
Kissinger’s consulting firm, Kissinger Associated, announced his death on Wednesday evening, but did not disclose a cause. It said he died at his home in Connecticut and would be interred at a private family service, and that there would be a memorial in New York at a later date.
Kissinger was a Harvard academic before becoming National Security adviser when Richard Nixon won the White House in 1968. Working closely with the president, he was influential in momentous decisions regarding the Vietnam war including the secret bombing of Cambodia in 1969 and 1970.
That was part of what Nixon called the “madman theory”, an attempt to make North Vietnam believe the US president would do absolutely anything to end the war.
He survived Nixon’s downfall in the Watergate scandal and served Gerald Ford, leaving government after Jimmy Carter’s election win in 1976. Kissinger’s policy towards the Soviet Union was not confrontational enough for the Reagan administration, precluding any thought of a 1980s comeback.
A giant of the Republican party, Kissinger remained influential until the end of his life.
George W. Bush said the US had “lost one of the most dependable and distinctive voices on foreign affairs”, while Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, said Kissinger was “endlessly generous with the wisdom gained over the course of an extraordinary life”.
In a telegram to Kissinger’s widow posted to the Kremlin’s website, Putin wrote: “The name of Henry Kissinger is inextricably linked with a pragmatic foreign policy line, which at one time made it possible to achieve detente in international tensions and reach the most important Soviet-American agreements that contributed to the strengthening of global security.”
China hailed Kissinger as an “old friend”. Kissinger was central to the US’s decision to switch diplomatic relations from Taipei to Beijing in the 1970s, recognising the communist People’s Republic on the mainland rather than the government in exile on Taiwan as the legitimate power. Kissinger visited China more than 100 times, most recently in July, when he held talks with President Xi Jinping.
“It is a tremendous loss for both our countries and the world,” the Chinese ambassador to the US, Xie Feng, said in a post on X. “History will remember what the centenarian had contributed to China-US relations, and he will always remain alive in the hearts of the Chinese people as a most valued old friend.”
However, in Taiwan some people called his death “good news”, citing his involvement in starting the rush of nations to switch ties to Beijing. “Bless him for being Chinese in his next life,” one said.
While Kissinger was awarded the Nobel peace prize for his role in negotiating a ceasefire in Vietnam in 1973, many in the region accuse him of also prolonging the conflict, and point to his authorisation of secret bombing campaigns in Laos and Cambodia.
Dr Sophal Ear, an associate professor at Arizona State University’s Thunderbird school of global management, who was born in Cambodia and who, as a child, fled the brutal Khmer Rouge regime, described Kissinger’s legacy in the country as “one of horror”.
He added: “Kissinger’s impact on Cambodia is in the deaths and continuing unexploded ordnances littering the country, the physical maiming, loss of human capital, and the mental health toll that millions suffer.”
No government officials in Vietnam commented on his death yesterday. In Japan, the prime minister, Fumio Kishida, hailed Kissinger’s “significant contributions” to peace and stability in Asia. In the 1970s Kissinger referred to the Japanese as “treacherous sons of bitches” for wanting normal relations with China when he was national security adviser to Nixon, according to documents declassified in 2006.
Kissinger “made significant contributions to the regional peace and stability, including the normalisation of diplomatic ties between the US and China”, Kishida told reporters.
Political leaders in western Europe struck a largely respectful tone. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, posted: “Henry Kissinger was a giant of history. His century of ideas and of diplomacy had a lasting influence on his time and on our world.”
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said that with the death of the German-born Kissinger, who retained his Bavarian accent, the world had lost “a great diplomat”.
The former British prime minister Tony Blair said he was “in awe” of Kissinger.
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