Former Australian leaders pay tribute to Kissinger

The controversial Nobel Peace Prize winner, who died at the age of 100, served as secretary of state under Republican President Richard Nixon.

Mr Howard said Kissinger "well understood the arc of history".

"His influence was found in many areas. To my mind, none exceeded his fundamental role in the 1971 American rapprochement with communist China," Mr Howard said.

"Many alleged that Henry Kissinger could be divisive and polarising. On occasions he certainly was: then so were others who have left a positive mark on world history."

In recent years, Mr Howard acted alongside Kissinger as a member of the International Council of American bank, JP Morgan.

Mr Keating said Kissinger's death draws to a close the "epoch of intellectualism in foreign policy".

"Kissinger's great strength was that he thought in original terms, eschewing the derivative thinking which so dominates patterns of thought these days," Mr Keating said.

Mr Keating first met Kissinger at Harvard in 1971, and the diplomat went on to serve as deputy chair to Mr Keating during his decade as chairman of China Development Bank's International Advisory Council.

Mr Keating said Kissinger's One China policy continues to underwrite relations between the world's two greatest powers.

As a result of the policy, the US did not recognise Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan but instead acknowledged the Chinese position that Taiwan was part of China, allowing the two countries to move forward with diplomatic relations.

Mr Keating called the move perhaps Kissinger's "greatest insight and contribution to world peace".

"The last time I saw him in Beijing, he paid me the compliment of telling me my conceptual approach to strategic policy most closely resembled that of his own," Mr Keating said.

Australian Associated Press