Henry Kissinger and Pakistan

Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who passed away Wednesday at the age of 100, shaped American foreign policy like few others, with a long -- and highly controversial -- record.

Here are some of the major moments of Kissinger, who served both as national security advisor and secretary of state to presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford:

- China -

Kissinger secretly flew to Beijing in July 1971 on a mission to establish relations with communist 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 US opening to then-isolated Beijing contributed to China's rise to become a manufacturing powerhouse and the world's largest economy after the United States.

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

In July, a few months after he turned 100, Kissinger visited China for the last time, meeting with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders.

Kissinger secretly flew to Beijing in 1971 via Pakistan and met Premier Zhou Enlai, paving the way for Nixon's breakthrough trip a year later in which the president clinked glasses with Zhou, visited the ailing Mao and set the stage for diplomatic relations and, decades later, the intertwining of what would be the world's two largest economies.

According to the US National Security Archive and the George Washington University's Cold War Group of the Elliott School of International Affairs had published some 20 years ago declassified US documents on the Sino-American rapprochement.

This material documented President Nixon's efforts to make contacts with Beijing during 1970-1971 as the basis for rapprochement after decades of hostility. The documents, a nearly-complete record, threw light on the historic talks between Zhou Enlai and Henry Kissinger during the latter's secret trip to China in July 1971.

This collection opened up with documentation on Nixon's and Kissinger's efforts to establish communication with China in the fall of 1970. Since the beginning of his presidency in early 1969, and even earlier, Nixon had been interested in changing relations with China, not least to contain a potential nuclear threat but also, by taking advantage of the adversarial Sino-Soviet relationship, to open up another front in the Cold War with the Soviet Union.  It took time, however, for Nixon and Kissinger to discover how to carry out a new policy toward Beijing and such complications as the US invasion of Cambodia in 1970 created detours in White House efforts to sustain a dialogue with Beijing.

Earlier efforts to make contact with China having gone nowhere, in September 1970 Nixon directed Kissinger to renew the effort. An October 1970 meeting with Pakistan's ruler Yahya Khan had some potential for expediting contacts because Pakistan had provided a channel for earlier Sino-American communication in 1969. Nevertheless Kissinger was also trying other channels, such as the Romanian government and an old friend, Jean Sainteny, who had connections at the Chinese embassy in Paris.

The Pakistani channel produced an important message from Zhou in December 1970, which quickly generated a White House response. In April 1971, both sides were engaged in important signaling---the Chinese with "Ping Pong diplomacy" and Nixon with public statements of interest in visiting China--while Kissinger was waiting for Beijing's response to the message sent in December.

On 27 April 1971, Kissenger was about to make another effort to contact Sainteny when the Pakistani ambassador delivered Zhou Enlai's belated reply. Mao Zedong's and Zhou's interest in receiving a visit from Nixon laid the way for Kissinger's secret trip in July 1971 and the beginning of the US-China effort to discuss the issues that had divided them over the years.

- Vietnam -

Leading Nixon's efforts to end "with honor" the disastrous US war in Vietnam, Kissinger secretly ordered bombings in neighboring Cambodia and Laos in hopes of cutting off Hanoi's supply lines. Some historians estimate that hundreds of thousands of civilians died.

Kissinger reached a ceasefire in Vietnam in January 1973 through negotiations in Paris and was controversially co-awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which Hanoi's Le Duc Tho refused to accept.

The US-allied government in Saigon fell more than two years later -- with Kissinger believed to be seeking a "decent interval" after the Paris deal to minimize the appearance of a US loss.

- Coups -

Convinced that facing down the Soviet Union was the larger picture, Kissinger advocated the overthrow of governments that tilted left, most notably in Chile and Argentina.

In a declassified memo that showed his cold calculations, Kissinger said that Chile's socialist president, Salvador Allende, offered an "insidious" model by showing that a leftist elected government could work. Allende committed suicide as troops took over in a CIA-backed coup.

- Invasions -

Kissinger also showed no reluctance in backing invasions when he saw a larger US interest. When Pakistan served as a secret intermediary on China, he offered diplomatic cover to Islamabad during violence in East Pakistan, which won independence as Bangladesh.

Kissinger gave an explicit green light to close Cold War ally Indonesia as it seized East Timor, beginning a brutal 24-year occupation.

Kissinger also tacitly supported Turkey as it seized one-third of Cyprus, seeking strong relations with the strategically placed country and perceived balance in its rivalry with fellow NATO member Greece.

Kissinger also led covert US involvement in Angola's civil war to counter Soviet and Cuban allies.

- Middle East -

Kissinger devoted much of his time to the Middle East and organized a massive airlift, Operation Nickel Grass, to resupply ally Israel with weapons after Arab states launched a surprise attack on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in 1973.

Kissinger would later negotiate in minute detail with Israel, Egypt and Syria as he came to define "shuttle diplomacy."

Effectively co-opting Moscow's role, Kissinger transformed the relationship with Egypt, the most populous Arab country, which became a US security partner and aid recipient.

 

With inputs from AFP.