Review: The China Diary of George H.W. Bush

Abstract

THE CHINA DIARY OF GEORGE H.W. BUSH The Making of a Global President Jeffrey A. Engel, editor Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008. 544PP, US$29.95 cloth (ISBN 978-0-691-13006-4)George H. W. Bush headed the United States liaison office in China for about 14 months, beginning late October 1974 and ending in December 1975. This was an extraordinarily critical period for China's domestic political future and a difficult time in American politics. In Beijing, Deng Xiaoping fought for power - and his life - against the gang of four, as Zhou Enlai lay dying and Mao Zedong faded in and out of senility. In Washington, President Jerry Ford struggled for legitimacy following Richard Nixon's Watergate -based resignation and Ford's troubling pardon ofthe disgraced ex-president. Even from abroad, Bush was a superb observer of American politics. If his diary is any indication, he hadn't a clue as to what was going on around him in China.In 1974, Bush was perceived by Nixon and the chattering class as an attractive Republican party loyalist without much political or intellectual substance. He had been appointed ambassador to the UN at a time when preserving a seat there for the Republic of China (Taiwan) was seen to be a high priority for the Nixon administration and he fought valiantly for that cause. He was unaware that Nixon and his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, had already betrayed Taiwan in their negotiations with Zhou in 1 971 and 1972. At the critical point in the struggle to prevent Taiwan's expulsion from the UN, in October 1972, Kissinger flew to Beijing to stroke America's newfound friends, undermining Bush's claim of Taiwan's importance to the United States. Taiwan was expelled and Bush was left looking foolish.As a Republican politician from Texas with family ties to the party's eastern establishment, Bush was appointed chairman of the Republican national committee in 1973, after Nixon's reelection, an awkward place to be sitting when the Watergate scandal broke. As a reward for his unstinting loyalty, he was offered a choice ofthe most sought-after ambassadorial posts, London and Paris. He surprised Ford by asking instead to head the liaison office in Beijing. He later claimed to believe China's rebirth as a world power was inevitable and he wanted to be present at the creation. Maybe so, but more likely he was unwilling to exhaust his fortune with the social expenses an ambassador to France or Great Britain had to pay out of his or her own pocket. Conceivably, he shared the sense of discomfort, perhaps of inferiority, that many Americans allegedly felt in the European haute monde - and the sense of superiority they historically felt among Asians.Bush went off to China filled with illusions. Somehow he imagined that Kissinger, now secretary of state, would allow him free rein to handle his post as he wished. He imagined that he could meet with and charm Chinese leaders as he had so many ambassadors at the UN. On both counts, he was quickly disabused of the illusion. …