Kissinger: Diplomacy Personified

Henry Kissinger, who died at the age of 100 on November 29, exercised great influence on the course of international events especially in the 1970s when he served as US Secretary of State and earlier as his country’s National Security Advisor (NSA). By the time Kissinger took up these offices his reputation as an intellectual powerhouse on global affairs was already made. He was an academic largely based at the Harvard University but through his writings were making an impact on US foreign and security policy making. He came in contact with Richard Nixon. On becoming President in 1969 Nixon made Kissinger his NSA. Later in 1973 he put him the office of Secretary of State. Nixon resigned in August 1974 because of the Watergate scandal. However, his successor Gerald Ford retained Kissinger as Secretary of State till the end of his tenure in January 1977. Kissinger did not fade away into retirement but set up a consulting company which advised governments and companies. His advice was also sought by successive US Presidents on some US foreign policy issues. Thus, Kissinger remained in the public eye right till the end.

The US was embroiled in a no-win Vietnam war when Kissinger became NSA. It was undertaken by the US as part of its policy to contain communism. The war was deeply unpopular in the US. The Nixon administration realised that but found it difficult to simply leave South Vietnam to its fate because that would have meant a great boost to the Soviets. Hence, through prevarication and even deceiving the American people the US government tried two contradictory approaches: negotiate to end the war and at the same time increase military operations on North Vietnam and even begin ruthlessly bombing Cambodia. Kissinger was in the midst of this two-faced effort. He managed to arrive at a settlement to end the war with North Vietnam but eventually it did not work. In the summer of 1975 as the US Secretary of State he had to watch his country’s enterprise in Vietnam end in complete defeat.

The amoral approach Kissinger displayed in his advice on diplomatic endeavours on Vietnam was part of his conviction that international relations were rooted in realpolitik. He showed this in US approaches towards South American countries. He had no compunctions in promoting a coup in Chile which led to the downfall of an elected government. The military chief who assumed power let loose a reign of terror on his own people.

While Kissinger was also deeply involved in pushing US interests successfully in West Asia and North Africa during his period in office what he will be most remembered for in time to come will be his contribution to the US’s changed approach towards China. It is believed that it was Nixon’s ambition to open up US ties with the communist country and he found in Kissinger an excellent instrument to accomplish his desire. Eventually, after his first secret visit to Beijing in July 1971 Kissinger was to visit China on almost a hundred occasions. Naturally, most of these were after he left office. His last visit to China was in July this year—after he had turned a hundred years old. He was received as an old friend and feted by the Chinese top leadership. Among others he met President Xi Jinping. As US-China ties are going through tough times the Chinese leaders said that the Americans needed someone with the wisdom of Kissinger to set bilateral ties right. Naturally, it was self-serving for the Chinese to make these comments but it is undeniable that he enjoyed great respect in that country.

India’s attitude toward Kissinger was in great contrast to that of China. India will never be able to erase the memory of the Nixon-Kissinger policy during 1971. They knew full well what the Pakistani army was doing to the people of the then East Pakistan which led to the flow of ten million refugees to India. However, as the Pakistani generals were helping them in secretly getting to China and also because they did not the balance of power to change in South Asia, they turned a blind eye to the developments in East Pakistan. Not only that they openly threatened India against taking military action to protect its interests. Kissinger lobbied the Chinese to take undertake ground manoeuvres to restrain India from taking military action. Earlier when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited Washington in October 1971 to urge Nixon to restrain the Pakistani leadership so that the refugees could go return to their homeland from India she was met with a hostility. The Nixon tapes reveal that behind her back both Nixon and Kissinger referred to her in the most abusive terms. In the end Indira Gandhi who was herself a great practitioner of realpolitik got the better of Nixon and Kissinger. In subsequent years Kissinger tried to make amends for the policy he had helped craft in 1971 and also the language he had used against Indira Gandhi but the scars of those years have remained. In any event, Kissinger was never a great admirer of India.

It is indeed doubtful if he had ever studied India as closely as he had China. In any event the main area of his expertise was the centuries of post Westphalian Europe which led to the creation of the notion of balance of power. As the US-China rivalry increases voices will increase in the US to go back to notions of balance of power.