How to kowtow
and how not to do.
A parade of American envoys to the Forbidden City: Burns (Nicholas and William), Blinken, Yellen, Kerry, and now, Kissinger. Saying more or less the same thing about the need for ‘dialogue’, being photographed in the same way, always to the right of the host, shaking his hand with their own clasped close by the side of the body. Could it be any more obvious who is the demandeur? Let them take some advice from one of Dr Kissinger’s better aides, the late General Brent Scowcroft, who travelled there in 1989:
Larry Eagleburger and I returned to Beijing to brief the Chinese leadership on the talks and to explore the possibility of developing a “road map” toward better relations. Unlike our earlier trip, there was no need to make this a secret operation. We did, however, hope to keep it at a very low profile, since it was bound to be controversial. It was here that we—I—made a mess of it. We did not want to give advance notice of the trip because of the danger that Congress would demand an explanation of what we were about and why. We had absolutely no certainty that anything positive would result from the visit, and controversy in Washington at its very beginning would not enhance the prospects for success.
The problems began with our departure. To arrive in Beijing in mid-afternoon, as the Chinese had requested, required us to depart from Andrews Air Force Base at two thirty in the morning. Therein lay the dilemma. To inform the press in the middle of the night would make it appear we were trying to hide the trip. On the other hand, delaying the announcement until we reached China would also put it in the middle of the night, Washington time. I opted to wait until Beijing. Bad choice. But by far the most negative aspect was the television coverage. CNN happened to be in Beijing at the time, and the Chinese proposed extensive media attention. That was the last thing we had in mind, and after some discussion we agreed that camera crews would be permitted only at the initial meeting and at the outset of the session with the Chinese leadership. Following that script, there were cameras at the protocol meeting immediately on our arrival at the state guest house. However, as the ritual toasts began at the end of the welcoming dinner given by the foreign minister, the television crews reappeared. It was an awkward situation for me. I could go through with the ceremony and be seen as toasting those the press was labeling “the butchers of Tiananmen Square,” or refuse to toast and put in jeopardy the whole purpose of the trip. I chose the former and became, to my deep chagrin, an instant celebrity—in the most negative sense of that term. I have no excuse, although none in the press saw fit to mention the highly critical comments in my toast about the Tiananmen events.