Henry Kissinger, divisive former diplomat with a disreputable legacy, dies aged 100

Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, a controversial Nobel Peace Prize winner and a key figure of American diplomacy in the post-World War II era, died on Wednesday at the age of 100, his consulting firm Kissinger Associates said, without providing details of the circumstances.

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FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE - 1923-2023

While tributes poured in on Thursday, praising Kissinger as a skilled defender of US interests, there was also widespread criticism highlighting his complicated legacy - including bigoted and derogatory remarks about former prime minister Indira Gandhi that were revealed by declassified White House tapes in 2020.

"America has lost one of the most dependable and distinctive voices" on foreign affairs, said former US president George W Bush. Kissinger served two presidents, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, and dominated foreign policy as the US withdrew from Vietnam and established ties with China. He remained Beijing's preferred go-between with Washington until just before he died.

In China, foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin called Kissinger an "old friend and good friend of the Chinese people, and a pioneer and builder of China-US relations".

Many on social media in China mourned his passing. State broadcaster CCTV shared on social media an old segment showing Kissinger's first secret visit to China in 1971, when met then-premier Zhou Enlai, paving the way for the formalisation of ties between the two countries.

"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," said Russian President Vladimir Putin. "I had the opportunity to personally communicate with this deep, extraordinary man many times, and I will retain the fondest memory of him."