The man is a treasure trove of information and anecdotes from the realm of diplomacy, having been in the United States foreign service for 34 years with stints as US ambassador in Zambia, the Philippines and Pakistan. But his most exciting assignment was as one of the first members of the US Liaison Office in Beijing, which was opened with the historic 1972 visit to Mao Zedong's China by president Richard Nixon, whom he had accompanied.
Nicholas Platt, 74, retired US ambassador, is an old Asia hand. Platt, author of China Boys: How US Relations with the PRC Began and Grew — A Personal Memoir, addressed an audience of Asia experts, diplomats, businesspeople and media at the Asia Society in New York recently. His book illuminates the intricate complexities of China's behaviour as the impenetrable bamboo curtain finally began to lift; indeed, the book could serve as a guide of "do's and don'ts" for diplomats dealing with China.
Small beginnings
Platt's book describes preparations for the historic Nixon visit to China in 1972 and the interplay within the US delegation during the visit itself. He recounts setting up America's first resident diplomatic office in China, headed by David Bruce, and first encounters between Americans and Chinese, including Olympic athletes, orchestra maestros, Congressmen, aircraft manufacturers, bankers and scientists.
He further reveals the forging of the first links between the Pentagon and the People's Liberation Army following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and shows how these diverse practical ties later evolved into today's relations that are characterised by an intense interdependence in economic, trade and business sectors.
"I've been regarded in China as something of a talking fossil!" laughs Platt, as he opens his talk, generating, in turn, ripples of laughter from the audience. A self-made amateur film shows the arrival of Nixon at Beijing airport where he shook hands with Zhou Enlai, the Chinese prime minister. There is irony in the handshake between Nixon and Zhou: During the Geneva Conference in 1954, secretary of state John Foster Dulles had refused to shake Zhou Enlai's hand. Keeping this snub in mind, Nixon made it a point to shake Zhou Enlai's hand on arrival in Beijing.
While Nixon and Kissinger saw China as a counterweight to the Soviet Union, China, dreading the Soviet "hegemonist ambitions", viewed the American overtures through Mao's famous "my-enemy's-enemy-is-my-friend" prism. The Chinese, after the self-destructive Cultural Revolution, wanted to move ahead, looking for a window through which they could reach out to the world and overcome their long isolation. And what better way of doing that than by uncaging themselves from their ideological past and opening up to the Americans?
Nixon and Kissinger wanted China to join forces to check the expansionist Soviet designs and help America find a "peace-with-honour" solution in Vietnam from which the US wanted to extricate itself.
Platt recalls Nixon's comment to him during the signing of the Shanghai Communiqué on February 28, 1972, in Beijing: "Your China boys will have a lot to do from now!"
Platt, who began his diplomatic career in Asia as a China analyst at the US Consulate General in Hong Kong from 1964 to 1968, says leadership succession in China in those days was characterised by upheavals unlike the present smooth transition of power from one generation of leaders to another. "China has a more systematic hierarchy today compared to the mood-swings under Mao's politics," he recalls.
The first US diplomats in China lived in a ghetto-type of existence — the "cocoon", as the author calls it — with very little interaction with the common Chinese. China's face has changed beyond recognition since Nixon's eventful 1972 visit.
China was then tightly governed by old leaders who were all in their mid or late seventies, posing a sharp contrast to today's younger leaders, many of whom wear expensive suits. Platt also has a dig at his countrymen. "I am unhappy about the low level of knowledge of Americans about China compared with the information Chinese have about America," he says.
"I think there are people today in America who think in terms of ‘yellow peril' and in terms of Chinese growth and in terms of danger to the US," Platt said.
"I also think there are people in China who think we are about to encircle them and prevent them from becoming the leading nation they want to be. However, the broad middle, the broad centre in both countries, seems to be comfortable with each other and I think that bodes well for the future."
On China's Tibet policy, Platt said the US does not question Tibet being part of China. "But we are asking for respect for the Tibetans and the Dalai Lama," the author said.
Impact on Taiwan
Nixon's visit to China also had ramifications for Taiwan which, unlike Hong Kong, is not interested in China's "one-nation-two-systems" formula.
After Taiwan was unceremoniously booted out of the United Nations and its place given to the People's Republic of China, the US Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act, which lays emphasis on maintaining relations with Taiwan and providing it security against any belligerence from China.
"The US Congress, which felt Taiwan had been shortchanged, decided to pass the Taiwan Relations Act that is not viewed favourably in China, though it is an indispensable part of our relations with China. We saw the Taiwan Relations Act's relevance a few months back when the US approved arms sales to Taiwan," Platt told Weekend Review. As for the future of communist rule in China, Platt believes that the Chinese leaders will have to share power if they want to remain in power. "But how do you do it? My question is — can you stay on top of everything that is growing so fast and so much? The leadership will need to share this power with other elements in the country," Platt contended.
Manik Mehta is a commentator on Asian affairs.
