U.S statesman Henry Kissinger dies aged 100

Geopolitical consulting firm Kissinger Associates confirmed his death on November 29 but gave no cause.

He had been active past his centenary, attending meetings in the White House, publishing a book on leadership styles, and testifying before a Senate committee about the nuclear threat posed by North Korea.

With his gruff yet commanding presence and behind-the-scenes manipulation of power, Kissinger exerted uncommon influence on global affairs under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

The diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China.

Kissinger's power grew during the turmoil of Watergate, when the politically attuned diplomat assumed a role akin to co-president to the weakened Nixon.

"No doubt my vanity was piqued," Kissinger later wrote of his expanding influence. "But the dominant emotion was a premonition of catastrophe."

His 1973 Peace Prize - awarded jointly to North Vietnam's Le Duc Tho, who would decline it - was one of the most controversial ever.

Two members of the Nobel committee resigned over the selection and questions arose about the US secret bombing of Cambodia.

A Jew who fled Nazi Germany with his family in his teens, Kissinger in his later years cultivated the reputation of respected statesman, giving speeches, offering advice to Republicans and Democrats alike and managing a global consulting business.

He turned up in President Donald Trump's White House on multiple occasions.

But Nixon-era documents and tapes, as they trickled out over the years, brought revelations - many in Kissinger's own words - that cast him in a harsh light.

Never without his detractors, Kissinger was dogged by critics who argued that he should be called to account for his policies on Southeast Asia and support of repressive regimes in Latin America.

With Australian Associated Press.