Macquarie University historian Chris Dixon describes Henry Kissinger's legacy as "contentious" after the former US secretary of state, a key figure of American diplomacy in the post-World War II era, died at the age of 100. Dixon, also the executive dean of the Australian university's Arts faculty, says Kissinger was a rare figure who achieved many diplomatic successes, notably opening China to the West. But he notes that Kissinger will also be remembered for his role in the secret bombing campaigns in Cambodia, which paved the way for the rise of the Khmer Rouge and the genocide which followed. SOUNDBITES