Following former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger’s death, I found the editorial about him in the Liberty Times (the sister paper of the Taipei Times) an interesting read. The article offered profound insights coupled with objective commentary on Kissinger’s life and legacy.
On Dec. 15, 1978, then-US president Jimmy Carter announced at the White House that the US and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) had agreed to recognize each other and to establish diplomatic relations as of Jan. 1, 1979, and that the US would sever its diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Kissinger was the main strategist behind this geopolitical grand scheme to restrain the Soviet Union by collaborating with Chinese communists. The potential establishment of diplomatic relations between the US and China had been on the cards for some time, an inconvenient predicament which had kept the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwanese public on tenterhooks.
It took a decade across three former US presidents, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Carter, to see the normalization of US-China diplomacy, during which time Taiwan maintained de jure diplomatic relations with the US, notwithstanding awkward sentiments during this time.
The person who was harmed most over this fallout was former Republic of China (ROC) ambassador to the US James Shen (沈劍虹), the Taiwanese diplomat with most experience of working with Kissinger. In his memoir published before his death, Shen told how he and Kissinger went head to head on many issues, an unpleasant experience for Shen as the US was courting China at the time.
In July 1971, Kissinger feigned illness during a visit to Pakistan and flew undercover to Beijing for unprecedented talks with then-Chinese leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東) and then-Chinese premier Zhou Enlai (周恩來) about establishing formal diplomatic relations. When the news broke, Taiwanese were enraged, shocked and perplexed.
After returning to the US, Kissinger bragged about the historical trip and the thawing of China-US relations, while putting up a front by saying that the US would not change its stance with the ROC.
However, due to changing international circumstances and the domestic pressure over the Vietnam war, Kissinger had to carry out the trip in secret, albeit feeling bad for Taiwan and reassuring Taipei that then-US president Richard Nixon would not betray an old friend.
A few weeks later, Kissinger was invited to a dinner banquet at Twin Oaks, where he sang the praises of Mao and Zhou in front of Shen, lauding them as outstanding Chinese leaders, but again reassuring Shen that the US does not harbor illusions about Beijing and that the US stands steadfast with Taiwan. To Shen, the hypocrisy, duplicity and slickness were like nails being dragged across a chalkboard.
In late October 1971, the UN held a debate in the General Assembly regarding ROC membership. Kissinger again went to China to lay the groundwork for Nixon’s visit in the following year, a move that heralded the end of the Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) faction in the UN.
On Oct. 25, 1971, the UN General Assembly passed UN Resolution 2758, which stated that the PRC is the only legitimate government of China.
In terms of the US pulling the rug out from underneath the ROC, Kissinger only coldly told Shen that it was no one’s fault, only conceding that then-US ambassador to the UN George H.W. Bush should have delayed the debate to buy time for other remedial actions.
After the incident, Bush complained to Shen that he was on orders to mediate with Chinese officials and defend the ROC’s position, but that Kissinger should not have been visiting China at the time and that things happened so fast. Shen believed that Bush and Kissinger were both trying to pass the buck and that finger pointing would not do the ROC any good.
By the end of February 1972, when Nixon and Zhou published the Shanghai Communique, Kissinger was still reassuring Shen that Washington had not yielded to Beijing and that its partnership with the ROC remained rock solid. Nevertheless, Shen noted Kissinger’s shifty look and evasive attitude. It was the last formal exchange Shen and Kissinger had while Shen was ROC ambassador to the US.
Amid this tense environment, Shen must have felt without any purpose in the White House as he offered his resignation to the ROC government. His proposal was accepted, but was rejected by the US, who found the timing inappropriate. Shen was forced to stay, but became a lame duck during his final four years as ambassador to the US, until the US and Taiwan officially severed ties and the ROC flag was removed.
It was not Shen’s fault, yet the regrettable experience left a scar that both nations could not forget or erase.
According to media reports, the last time Shen ran into Kissinger was at the inauguration of former US president Ronald Reagan in January 1981. Kissinger enthusiastically told Shen that he mentioned him multiple times in his memoir White House Years, while Shen told Kissinger that he had done the same in his.
Although Shen passed away many years ago, he has left invaluable records in his writings of his dealings with Kissinger, giving people a glimpse of the historical diplomatic development that happened over half a century ago. Today, Taiwan-US relations are based on shared values and solid benefits, a situation that is different from the context and background in 1979. As Taiwan-US relations have turned a page and ventured into new territory, history continues to provide lessons on addressing challenges through cooperation as well as inspiration for deepening ties.
Stanley Kao was Taiwan’s representative to the US from 2016 to 2020.
Translated by Rita Wang
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