Dateline: above the garage in Portsmouth RI, 16 March 2005
Very quiet day for me, doing a slow and careful edit of the first chapter. All fixes already made, so this was just the read through, changing only what really irked me, and sticking in arguments I've developed since the first draft. Worked from 0700 to 1200, with only a break to talk things over with long-time mentor Hank Gaffney at the Center for Naval Analyses by phone. Got through 34 pages out of 41, and will finish early tomorrow.
Had to break at 12:15 to pick up Jerry at pre-school. After that it was cleaning straight on through until our guests from China arrived at around 4:30. The two we knew from before were Prof. Niu Ke from Beijing University (for some reason the Chinese still insist on calling this Peking University, but once trained, I can never go back), who's now the Yenching scholar at Harvard for the year. He is getting access to all sorts of books he never thought he'd get access to, which is less a Chinese coming to American thing than an anybody coming to Harvard thing. Harvard's library system is stunningly rich and deep, especially in Cold War security studies, which is Ke's forte, so I understand his excitement well. I spent many many hours wandering the stacks at Widener and other libraries there, although that whole concept now feels like a bygone era, like typewriters.
Niu Ke brought our great guide from our Beijing time, good friend Zhang Yue, who is just about the sweetest woman Vonne and I know, we both fell in love with her about 15 minutes after meeting her. It was hugely exciting to have her in our house, meeting our kids. She was only here three hours, but it was a very special night for us, reminding me of what a fantastic trip we had in China and how that entire experience changed our lives for the better.
With Ke and Yue came three additional gentlemen, all very charming and very interesting to talk to, especially one fellow who's lived in LA for 10 years now. So we toured the house and the yard, and my kids put on displays throughout (piano, singing, drawing manga, acrobatics on the backyard playset, various games on the widescreen, etc.)—totally non-stop performances which our guest delighted in throughout.
I must confess, I must adjust my assumptions about Chinese adult males and kids. While in China I never saw many men with kids, so I didn't get much sense of the interaction, but these guys were all very adept charmers with all four of my kids. So I have to say I was very impressed.
So, a lot of great conversations, a huge, fabulous meal from my unbelievable live-in cook, more pictures than I can remember, lots of hugs, and real sadness to see them go. What a special night it was. Our guests acted like it was a big deal for me to break from my "busy schedule," but the treat was all ours.
Only one story caught my eye today: "Is the Empire Striking Back? Keep Japan out of the Taiwan debate," an op-ed by Yong Xue, an assistant prof of Asian history at Suffolk University (NYT, 16 March 2005, p. A23). Here's the passage that really rang true for me:
On the issue of Taiwan, the United States would be wise to deal with China alone. After all, anti-American sentiment in China is shallow. Many Chinese people continue to admire America for both its values and its political system. More practically, they also realize that China needs the United States to maintain a stable international order so its economy can continue to grow. They have benefited greatly from trade with America.
They are also sophisticated enough to understand America's distrust of China's emerging power; they expect only sensible and fair leadership. The Bush administration should deal with China in a business-like manner, without needless provocation that leave the moderate forces within Chinese government and society little room for maneuvering. In this respect, unilateralism may be preferable to multilateralism—especially if America's partner is Japan.
Japan, you have to remember, invaded China in WWII, killed millions, and not only never cut a peace treaty, it never has bothered to apologize for anything connected with its brutal occupation. America, if you remember, fought on China's side against the Japanese.
So Xue's point is a simple one: getting Japan to toss its hat in the ring on our defense guarantee on Taiwan accomplished nothing of utility in our relationship with China. I remain flabbergasted by the choice. But such is the skill of American diplomacy in the world today.
