Former US President George Herbert Walker Bush has died in Houston, aged 94. His death was recorded at 10 p.m. local time, and was announced in a statement released by his family's spokesman. Bush assumed office in 1989 to see out the end of America's Cold War stand-off with the Soviet Union; while he also routed Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army from Kuwait in the early nineties. However, he lost the chance for a second term after breaking a no-new-taxes pledge. He was the father of President George W. Bush, who served two terms in the White House from 2001 through 2009.

George Herbert Walker Bush became the 41st US president in 1989 just as a wave of revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe caused the Cold War framework to crumble.

The former CIA chief and US ambassador to the United Nations brought with him a deep knowledge of foreign affairs, which he honed in the mid-1970s as chief of the US liaison office in Beijing. It was there he formed a personal attachment to China, meeting with its people and its leadership.

And so for his first foreign trip as US president, Bush headed back to Beijing, meeting with chairman Deng Xiaoping and other Chinese leaders.

He told CCTV reporters at the time "the growing relationship between China and the United States is vital to my country and I hope it will benefit the people in China".

In his book, "41: A Portrait of My Father",  the president's son George W. Bush wrote of how his dad tried to live out a principled and restrained style of leadership.

GEORGE W. BUSH FORMER US PRESIDENT "Preach a sermon daily and if necessary use words. That summarizes his leadership style."

In 1990, President Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev forged an agreement on the US-Soviet Chemical Weapons Accord, and signed the strategic arms reduction treaty known as START, setting in motion an unprecedented reduction of nuclear arsenal for both nations.

But Bush 41 was still fighting a domestic perception gained on the campaign trail - that of a wealthy privileged bureaucrat who was soft.

Panama would be his first test, and in December 1989, he ordered more than 27,000 US troops to invade Panama to depose General Manuel Noriega, who was said to be threatening the security of Americans living there. Hundreds of Panamanians died.

But his greatest military test came when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990. Bush rallied 34 nations to send hundreds of thousands of troops to Iraq, forming Operation Desert Storm.

They launched an air war, followed by a brief ground assault, ending in a decisive victory for the coalition. A year later Bush ran for re-election, but a faltering economy and a broken promise on preventing tax-hikes led to his loss to Democrat Bill Clinton in 1992.

It was that loss that emboldened two of his sons to run for public office.

Bush 41's presidency spawned an American political dynasty that continues to this day. Jessica Stone, CGTN, Washington.