Former U.S. Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger passed away at his home in Connecticut on Wednesday local time. He was 100 years old. Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Thursday Taipei time extending condolences to his family and friends and saying that Kissinger played an important role in U.S. foreign policy.
Kissinger was one of the most influential and controversial figures in American foreign policy. He is perhaps most well remembered for his secret trips to China in the early 1970s which paved the way for the normalization of relations between China and the United States. The policies set during his tenure laid the foundations for the bilateral relationship to this day, and by extension, the U.S. relationship with Taiwan as well.
In an interview last May, Kissinger referred to the Taiwan issue as “insoluble” and a problem for which “there is no solution, other than time.” Following those comments, Taiwan Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Jeff Liu (劉永健) issued a response saying that while the ministry respects Kissinger’s opinion, Taiwan is not the problem. He pointed out that China’s desire for external expansion and its refusal to abandon the use of force to achieve those desires are the biggest threats to the region. Liu added that the solution to the Taiwan does not depend on time, but rather on the ideas of the leadership on either side of the strait.