Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger has died at the age of 100. After fleeing Nazi Germany with his family in 1938 he arrived in the US to excel academically, graduating from Harvard and earning an MA and PhD degrees at that institution.

Kissinger, who was widely known as a dominating and polarizing force in the US, worked for multiple administrations and accomplished so much, serving two Republican Presidents; one being Richard Nixon and the other being Gerald Ford.

He advised powerful political leaders of American parties for decades. He came to be seen as one of world’s most prominent diplomats and international intellectuals of the 20th century.

He won the Nobel Prize for negotiating a ceasefire in Vietnam. It was he who paved the way for President Nixon’s visit to China through a great deal of cooperation from Pakistan, orchestrating normalization of relations between the US-led West and China in the early 1970s after Chinese leader Chairman Mao had begun to feel threatened by the then Soviet Union following the dispatch of troops to Czechoslovakia by the latter in 1968.

Since President Nixon’s dramatic visit to China in 1972 Kissinger had been more intimately connected with the former Middle Kingdom than any other Western figure.

That Kissinger was a true Sinologist is a fact. I learnt a lot about China’s history through his book “On China” in which Kissinger had explained to the entire world the classical approach of this country to diplomacy, strategy and negotiation.

In my view, Kissinger had absolute dexterity in successfully tracing the rhythms, patterns and nuances of Chinese history in a fascinating manner. But his legacy will also remain subject to strong opprobrium because of his real or perceived contempt for human rights and efforts to protect US corporate interests regardless of the price to be paid.

For example, he is assailed for turning a blind eye to the army action in the then East Pakistan. Needless to say, his opponents had described him as a ‘war criminal’.

Be that as it may, it is widely believed that his birth outside the US was perhaps the only impediment to becoming the President of the country. R.I.P.

Abu Adnan (Karachi)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023