Contentious Kissinger turns 100

Henry Kissinger, one of the most influential and contentious figures in US foreign policy, turns 100 today.

It is a life milestone for Kissinger, who served as both national security adviser and secretary of state under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

Kissinger secretly flew to Beijing in July 1971 on a mission to establish relations with China, setting the stage for a landmark visit by Nixon who sought both to shake up the Cold War and enlist help ending the Vietnam war.

The United States opening to then isolated Beijing contributed to China’s rise to become a manufacturing powerhouse and the world’s largest economy after America.

Kissinger was controversially co-awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating a ceasefire in Vietnam in 1973. But for many, Kissinger was seen as an unindicted war criminal for his role in, among other events, expanding the

Vietnam war to Cambodia and Laos. Some historians estimate that hundreds of thousands of civilians died in the US aerial bombing campaign.

He was also reviled for supporting coups in Chile and Argentina, greenlighting Indonesia’s bloody invasion of East Timor in 1975 and turning a blind eye to Pakistan’s mass atrocities during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence.

Since leaving office, Kissinger has grown wealthy advising businesses on China and has warned against the hawkish turn in US policy towards Beijing.

These images, by SCMP Pictures, Getty Images, Xinhua, Reuters and CNS as well as handouts, show some of the key moments and people in Kissinger’s long life and career.

Clockwise from above: Henry Kissinger with China’s prime minister Zhou Enlai in July 1971; Kissinger with members of the US delegation and Chinese hosts at the Great Wall in October 1971; with Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong at their historic summit in February 1972; and shaking the hand of then vice-premier Deng Xiaoping in New York 1974.

From top left: Henry Kissinger, aged 10, with his arm around his younger brother Walter; with his wife, Nancy May, in 1983; with president Richard Nixon and then vice-presidential nominee Gerald Ford in 1973; with president Gerald Ford in 1974; with president Ronald Reagan in 1981; and (above) with United States consul general David Osborn near the Star Ferry during a trip to Hong Kong in 1973.