china confidential american diplomats and sino-american relations, 1945-1996

CHINA
CONFIDENTIAL
CHINA
CONFIDENTIAL
 
 - ,
‒
Compiled and edited with introductions and conclusion by
Nancy Bernkopf Tucker
Published in cooperation with the
Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training
Foreign Affairs Oral History Program,
and the ADST-DACOR Diplomats and Diplomacy Series
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW YORK
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 
New York Chichester, West Sussex
Copyright ©  Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tucker, Nancy Bernkopf.
China confidential : American diplomats and Sino-American
relations since  / Nancy Bernkopf Tucker
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN ––– (acid free paper) —

ISBN ––– (pbk. : acid-free paper)
. United States—Foreign relations—China.
. China—Foreign relations—United States.
. United States—Foreign relations—–.
. United States—Foreign relations—–.
. Diplomats—United States—History—th century.
. Diplomats—China—History—th century.
I. Title.
E..C T 
.—dc –
Casebound editions of Columbia University Press books are
printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
c          
p          
An Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST)/
Diplomatic and Consular Officers, Retired (DACOR) Book
To Gisl
whose remembrance of things past shaped my world
and Warren
who has given me so much to remember
Acknowledgments xi
Cast of Characters xiii
Abbreviations xxiii
Introduction 
CHAPTER ONE: WAR ENDS, WAR BEGINS 
Immediate Postwar Period 
Marshall Mission 
Civil War 

China Lobby 
Ward Incident 
Chinese Communist Victory—Beijing and Nanjing 
Chinese Communist Victory—Shanghai 
Bombing by Nationalists 
China White Paper 
Attack on the Foreign Service 
Sino-Soviet Relations 
Departure 
Developments in Taiwan 
On the Eve of the Korean War 
CHAPTER TWO: 1950s 
Korea 
U.S China Policy I 
Negotiation with the PRC 
Hong Kong 
CONTENTS
vii
Developments in Taiwan I 
Offshore Islands 
Developments in Taiwan II 
Taiwan Riot 
Sino-Soviet Split 
U.S China Policy II 
Tibet 
CHAPTER THREE: 1960s 
U.S. Policy 
Negotiation with the PRC I 
Sino-Soviet Split 
Taiwan I 

 Taiwan Strait Crisis 
Sino-Indian Border War 
United Nations 
Hong Kong I 
Vietnam War I 
Kennedy Assassination 
Hilsman Speech  
Hong Kong II 
Negotiation With the PRC II 
Vietnam War II 
Taiwan II 
Chinese Activities in Indonesia and the Third World 
Cultural Revolution  
CHAPTER FOUR: NORMALIZATION 
Preliminary Indicators 
Nixon, Kissinger, and Normalization 
Taiwan 
Negotiation with the PRC 
United Nations 
Nixon Trip to China 
CHAPTER FIVE: 1970s 
Liaison Offices 
Stalemate 
CONTENTS
viii
Taiwan 
Carter 
Deng Xiaoping Visit 
Taiwan Relations Act 
Relations with the PRC 

Vietnam 
Hong Kong 
CHAPTER SIX: 1980s 
Election Campaign 
Taiwan Arms Sales Issue 
China in the s 
Reagan Visit to China 
Hong Kong 
China in the Later s 
Human Rights and Political Reform 
Tibet 
Exchanges Between China and the U.S. 
Taiwan 
Korea 
Soviet Union 
CHAPTER SEVEN: CRISIS YEARS—
TIANANMEN AND THE 1990s

Tiananmen 
U.S China Relations in the s 
Lee Teng-hui and the Visa Issue 
Taiwan Strait Crisis 
Japan 
Tibet 
Concluding Thoughts 
Notes 
Index 
CONTENTS
ix

T      of those quick books done in between other,
more taxing projects. As always, time passed and the book lingered. I want,
therefore, to begin by thanking several people and organizations for their
patience: Kate Wittenberg, my editor, who remained encouraging even
after I exceeded deadlines; the Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholars, where I began the project while a resident fellow writing a differ-
ent book; and, of course, my husband, Warren I. Cohen, who sacrificed
many an outing to my all too hectic schedule.
I owe to Warren as well an intellectual debt for his careful reading of the
manuscript, his enthusiasm for its contents, and suggestions for revisions. Six
other scholars also deserve gratitude for reading the proposal and/or manu-
script. Unfortunately, four remain anonymous, allowing me to thank only
George C. Herring and Richard H. Immerman. Editing oral history is not
the same as writing history and I am grateful to Don Ritchie, associate histo-
rian of the U.S. Senate, who has made this relatively new field more accessi-
ble to novices like me and who encouraged me to go ahead with the project.
The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, housed at
Georgetown University and the National Foreign Affairs Training Center,
collected all but one of the interviews I have used. They compose a small
fraction of the more than eleven hundred currently in the constantly grow-
ing collection covering all parts of the world. Ambassador Steven Low, at
the time serving as president of the association, cleared the way through
copyright agreements for the project to begin. Charles Stuart Kennedy,
director of the ADST Oral History Program, conducted most of the inter-
views, although a few were done by others, including myself, and the late
Marshall Green, who contributed not only his own reflections and inter-
viewing talents, but also some of the funding for the ADST effort. For the
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
xi
single non-ADST interview, I thank the Bancroft Library of the Univer-

sity of California, Berkeley which graciously shared the recollections of
John S. Service with me.
At Georgetown University, the staff of the Department of History,
most especially Larry Fields and Elizabeth English, rendered continuing
support, even while laughing at my lack of computer skills and constant
warfare with the copying machine. The School of Foreign Service gave me
time off at the beginning of the project and down the road supported the
transcription of the Winston Lord interview.
Finally, I want to thank the diplomats whose words I have captured in
this history of U.S China relations. They have made a unique contribution
with their obvious effort to look back thoughtfully at their lives and record
the difficult, amusing, and significant moments they experienced in the field
and in Washington while dealing with Chinese affairs between  and
. As a result of my own brief service in the Office of Chinese Affairs
at the Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, as well as my
participation in continuing China policy discussions in Washington, D.C.
over the past decade, I have been fortunate to know many of these individ-
uals personally. They are in real life every bit as dedicated and insightful as
they appear in the book. Their interest in the betterment of U.S China-
Taiwan relations and their concern for the future of Hong Kong continues
in most cases beyond their government service. In particular, I must thank
Paul Kriesberg, who sadly did not live to see the volume published, and
Winston Lord, both of whom were especially generous with their time.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
xii
(only China-related positions are listed)
Donald Anderson
Chinese Language Training, Department of State and Taichung, Taiwan,
–; Consular Officer/Political Officer, Consulate General, Hong
Kong, –; Interpreter Training, Taichung, Taiwan, –;

China Desk/Warsaw Talks, Department of State, –; Talks with
Chinese Embassy, Paris, France, –; Political Officer, Liaison
Office, Beijing, –; Political Officer, Consulate General, Hong
Kong, –; Office of Chinese Affairs, Department of State,
–; Consul General, Consulate General, Shanghai, –;
Director, Office of Chinese Affairs, Department of State, –; Con-
sul General, Consulate General, Hong Kong, –
Robert Anderson
Vice-Consul, Consulate General, Shanghai, –; Political Officer,
Nanjing, –
Oscar Armstrong
Officer, Consulate General, Guangzhou, –; Embassy, Beijing,
–; Consulate General, Hong Kong, –; INR—Chinese
Affairs, Department of State, –; Deputy Principal Officer, Hong
Kong, –; East Asia Bureau/Public Affairs, Department of State,
–; Taiwan Affairs, Department of State, –; Director,
Office of Chinese Affairs, –
Willis Armstrong
Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, –
CAST OF CHARACTERS
xiii
Leonard Bacon
Officer, Consulate, Hankou, –; Embassy, Nanjing, –;
Deputy Director, Office of Northeast Asian Affairs, Department of State,
–; Acting Director, East Asian Affairs, Department of State,

Natale Bellocchi
Administrative Assistant, Consulate General, Hong Kong, –;
Chinese Language Training, Taichung, Taiwan, –; Assistant
Commercial Attaché, Embassy, Taipei, Taiwan, –; Chief, Com-

mercial Unit, Consulate General, Hong Kong, –; Deputy Princi-
pal Officer, Consulate General, Hong Kong, –; Director, Ameri-
can Institute in Taiwan, –
Robert R. Bowie
Director, Policy Planning Staff, Department of State, –; Assistant
Secretary for Policy Planning, Department of State, –
Marshall Brement
Staff Assistant, East Asian Affairs, Department of State, –; Chi-
nese Language Training, Department of State and Taiwan, –;
Political Officer, Consulate General, Hong Kong, –
Frank Burnet
Chinese Language Training, Department of State, Taichung, Taiwan,
–; Staff Assistant, Far East Bureau, Department of State,
–; Political Counselor, Embassy, Taipei, Taiwan, –
Ralph Clough
Vice Consul, Consulate, Kunming, ; Embassy, Chongqing, –;
Embassy, Nanjing, ; Language Officer, Embassy, Beijing, –;
Chinese Secretary, Embassy, Nanjing, –; Political Officer, Con-
sulate General, Hong Kong, –; Deputy Director, Office of Chi-
nese Affairs, Department of State, –; Director, Office of Chinese
Affairs, Department of State, ; Advisor, Negotiations with Chinese
Poland, Switzerland, Great Britain, –; Deputy Chief of Mission,
Embassy, Taipei, Taiwan, –; Policy Planning Staff, Department of
State, –
CAST OF CHARACTERS
xiv
David Dean
Chinese language training, Taichung, Taiwan, –; Consulate Gen-
eral, Hong Kong, –; Officer in Charge of Mainland China Affairs,
Office of Asian Communist Affairs, Department of State, –;

Deputy Director, Office of Asian Communist Affairs, Department of State,
–; Political Counselor and Chargé, Embassy, Taipei, –;
Deputy Principal Officer, Consulate General, Hong Kong, –;
Deputy Chief of Mission, Beijing, –; Head, Office of East Asian
Affairs, Intelligence and Research Bureau, Department of State, ;
Board of Directors, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), –; Chair-
man, AIT/Washington, –; Director, AIT/Taipei, –
Willard Devlin
Chief of Consular Section, Consulate General, Hong Kong, –
Robert S. Dillon
Operations with Nationalist Chinese, Taiwan, –
Everett Drumright
Vice Consul, Consulate, Hankou, –; Chinese Language Training
Beijing, –; Officer, Consulate General, Shanghai, –;
Political Officer, Consulate General, Hankou, –; Political Officer,
Embassy, Chongqing, –; Internment Shanghai, –; Con-
sul, Consulate, Chengdu and Xi’an, –; Political Officer, Embassy,
Chongqing, –; Office of Chinese Affairs, Department of State,
–; Office of Chinese Affairs, Department of State, –;
Consul General, Consulate General, Hong Kong, –; Ambassador,
Embassy, Taipei, Taiwan, –
Eldon B. Erickson
Clerk, Consulate General Mukden, –
Charles W. [Chas] Freeman, Jr.
American Interpreter for Nixon Trip, ; Visiting Fellow, East Asian
Legal Research Center, Harvard, –; Deputy Director, Taiwan
Affairs, –; Director, Office of Chinese Affairs, Department of
State, –; Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy, Beijing, –;
Assistant Secretary of Defense, Pentagon, –
CAST OF CHARACTERS

xv
Lindsey Grant
Officer, Consulate General, Hong Kong, –, –; Economic
Officer, Taipei, Taiwan, –; Officer in Charge of Mainland Chinese
Affairs, Department of State, –; Acting Director, Office of Asian
Communist Affairs, Department of State, ; Director, Office of Asian
Communist Affairs, Department of State, –
Marshall Green
Regional Planning Advisor for Far East Affairs, Department of State,
–; Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Far East, Department of
State, –; Consul General, Consulate General, Hong Kong,
–; Deputy Assistant Secretary for Far East, Department of State,
–; Assistant Secretary, East Asian Affairs, Department of State,
–
John Holdridge
Chinese Language Training, American Universities, –; Political
Officer, Consulate General, Hong Kong, –; Political Officer,
Office of Chinese Affairs, Department of State, –; Political Offi-
cer, Consulate General, Hong Kong, –; Deputy Director , Office
of Research and Analysis for East Asia, INR, Department of State,
–; National Security Council, White House, –; Deputy
Chief of Mission, Liaison Office, Beijing, –; Assistant Secretary,
East Asian Affairs, Department of State, –
Jerome Holloway
Officer, Consulate General, Shanghai, –; Political Officer, Con-
sulate General, Hong Kong, –
Herbert Horowitz
Consular Officer/Chinese Language Student/Economic Officer, Embassy,
Taipei, Taiwan, –; Office of Chinese Affairs , Department of
State, –; Chief, Economic Section, Consulate General, Hong

Kong, –; Office of Chinese Affairs, Department of State,
–; Economic Counselor, Liaison Office, Beijing, –;
Director, Office of Research, East Asia, Department of State, –;
Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy, Beijing, –
CAST OF CHARACTERS
xvi
Arthur W. Hummel, Jr.
Beijing, s; Internment by Japanese, –; Life with Partisans in
North China, –; Liaison Officer, UNRRA, Tianjin, –;
Deputy Public Affairs Officer, Consulate General, Hong Kong, ; Pub-
lic Affairs Officer, Consulate General, Hong Kong, –; Deputy
Chief of Mission, Embassy, Taipei, Taiwan, –; Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Far Eastern and Pacific Affairs, Department of State,
–; Assistant Secretary for Far Eastern Affairs, –; Ambas-
sador, Embassy, Beijing, –
Walter Jenkins
Training Chinese Army, –; Office of Chinese Affairs, Depart-
ment of State, –; Political Officer, Embassy, Taipei, Taiwan,
–; Talks with Chinese in Poland, Embassy, Warsaw, Poland 
Richard E. Johnson
Office of Chinese Affairs, Department of State, –; Economic
Officer, Consulate General, Hong Kong, –
John Wesley Jones
Head of Political Section, Embassy, Nanjing, –
Ralph Kartosh
U.S. Military Assistance Group, Taipei, Taiwan, –
Paul Kreisberg
Chinese Language Training, Taiwan, –; Political Officer, Con-
sulate General, Hong Kong, –; INR—Chinese Affairs, Depart-
ment of State, –; Deputy Director, Senior Adviser to Warsaw

Talks and then Director, Office of Asian Communist Affairs, –;
Senior Deputy Director, Policy Planning Staff, Department of State,
–
Ruth Kurzbauer
Chinese Language Training, –; American Institute in Taiwan,
Taipei, Taiwan, –; Assistant Press Officer, Embassy, Beijing,
–
CAST OF CHARACTERS
xvii
John A. Lacey
U.S. Navy Chongqing/Beijing, –; Analyst, Intelligence and
Research Bureau, Department of State, –; Economic Officer,
Embassy, Taipei, Taiwan, –; Economic Officer, Consulate Gen-
eral, Hong Kong, –
James Leonard
Chinese Language Training/Political Officer, Embassy, Taipei, Taiwan,
–; INR, Department of State, –
Herbert Levin
Chinese Language Training, Taichung, Taiwan, –; Economic
Officer, Consulate General, Hong Kong, –; Political Officer,
Embassy, Taipei, –; National Security Council, –; Assis-
tant National Intelligence Officer for East Asia, –; Policy Plan-
ning Council, Department of State, –
James R. Lilley
Quingdao, s; CIA Station, Hong Kong, –; China Operations
Division, CIA, –; CIA Station Chief, Liaison Office, Beijing,
–; National Intelligence Officer for China, –; Senior East
Asia Specialist, National Security Council, –; Director, American
Institute in Taiwan, –; Consultant, International Security Affairs,
Department of Defense, –; Deputy Assistant Secretary for East

Asia, Department of State, –; Ambassador, Embassy, Beijing,
–; Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security
Affairs, –
Winston Lord
National Security Council, –; Special Assistant to the Assistant to
the President for National Security Affairs, –; Director, Policy
Planning Staff, Department of State, –; Ambassador, Embassy,
Beijing, –; Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs,
Department of State, –
Larue R. Lutkins
Chinese Language Training, Department of State and Beijing, –;
Consulate, Kunming, –; Political Officer, Consulate General,
CAST OF CHARACTERS
xviii
Hong Kong, –; Deputy Director and Acting Director, Office of
Chinese Affairs, Department of State, –
Richard McCarthy
Information Officer, Embassy, Beijing, –; Consulate General,
Hong Kong, –; Embassy, Taipei, Taiwan, –
Philip Manhard
Chinese Languages Training, Beijing, –; Vice Consul, Consulate,
Tianjin, –
Edwin W. Martin
Chinese Language Training, Yale, Beijing, –; Officer, Consulate,
Hankou, –; Economic Officer, Embassy, Taipei, Taiwan –
; Political Officer, Office of Chinese Affairs, Department of State
–; Political Advisor to Talks with Chinese at Panmunjon, Korea,
– and Geneva, Switzerland, ; Director, Office of Chinese
Affairs, Department of State, –; Consul General, Consulate Gen-
eral, Hong Kong, –

John Melby
Political Officer, Embassy, Chongqing/Nanjing, –; China White
Paper, Department of State, 
James Moceri
Information Officer, Embassy, Taipei, Taiwan, –
Robert L. Nichols
Chinese Language Training, Department of State, Taiwan, –;
Information Officer, Consulate General, Hong Kong, –; Chinese
Programs, Voice of America, Washington, D.C., –; Public
Affairs Officer, Embassy, Taipei, Taiwan, –
David Osborn
Information Office, Tainan, Taiwan, –; Office of Chinese Affairs
(Taiwan), Department of State/Geneva Talks, –; Consul Gen-
eral, Consulate General, Hong Kong, –
CAST OF CHARACTERS
xix
Elizabeth Raspolic
Chinese Language Training, Department of State and Taiwan, –;
Chief of Consular Section, Consulate General, Guangzhou, –;
Consul General, Embassy, Beijing, –
David Reuther
Office of Chinese Affairs, Department of State, –; Chinese Lan-
guage Training, Washington and Taipei, –; Chief, General
Affairs Section, American Institute in Taiwan, Taipei, –; Deputy,
Economic Section, Embassy, Beijing, –; Taiwan Desk Officer
while seconded to Office of Asian-Pacific Affairs, Office of the UnderSec-
retary of Defense, –
John S. Service
Clerk/Vice Consul, Kunming, –; Language Attaché, Beijing,
–; Vice Consul, Shanghai, –; Political Officer, Chongqing,

–; General Joseph Stilwell Staff, –; Amerasia Affair,
Washington, D.C., 
Thomas P. Shoesmith
Officer, Consulate General, Hong Kong, –; Taiwan Desk,
Department of State, ; Officer in Charge of ROC Affairs, Department
of State, –; Consul General, Consulate General, Hong Kong,
–; Deputy Assistant Secretary, East Asian Bureau, Department of
State, –
Gaston Sigur
Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, National
Security Council, –; Assistant Secretary, East Asian Affairs,
Department of State, –
Richard Solomon
National Security Council, –; Director, Policy Planning Staff,
Department of State, –; Assistant Secretary, East Asian and
Pacific Affairs, Department of State, –
William N. Stokes
Vice Consul, Mukden –
CAST OF CHARACTERS
xx
Harry E.T. Thayer
Officer, Consulate General, Hong Kong, –; East Asian Bureau,
Department of State, –; Chinese Language Training, Department
of State/Taiwan, –; Political Officer, Embassy, Taipei, Taiwan,
–; Taiwan Desk, Department of State, –; East Asia
Advisor, United Nations Mission, New York City, –; Deputy
Chief of Mission, Embassy, Beijing, –; Director, Office of Chi-
nese Affairs, Department of State, –; Director, American Insti-
tute in Taiwan, Taipei, Taiwan, –
Hendrick Van Oss

Officer, Consulate General, Shanghai, –
Earl Wilson
Information Officer, Consulate General, Shanghai, –; Consulate
General, Hong Kong, –
CAST OF CHARACTERS
xxi
AIT: American Institute in Taiwan
APEC: Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum
CIA: Central Intelligence Agency
CHICOM: Chinese Communist
CHINAT: Chinese Nationalist
DCM: Deputy Chief of Mission
DIA: Defense Intelligence Agency
DSB: Diplomatic Security Bureau
EAP: East Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau, Department of State
ESD: External Survey Detachment
GIMO: Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek
INR: Intelligence and Research Bureau, Department of State
IPR: Intellectual Property Rights
MAAG: Military Assistance and Advisory Group
MTCR: Missile Technology Control Regime
NSA: National Security Agency
OSS: Office of Strategic Services, predecessor to CIA
PLA: People’s Liberation Army
R&R: Rest and Recreation
TRA: Taiwan Relations Act
USIS/USIA: U.S. Information Service/U.S. Information Agency
USTR: U.S. Trade Representative
VOA: Voice of America
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

xxiii