CHINA LOOK U.S./U.S. LOOK CHINA – QUIZ ON KISSINGER CHAPTERS 14/15/16/17
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Dear Students: This will be the most difficult of the quizzes given so far, but not just because of quantity – four chapters of Henry Kissinger’s ON CHINA; but also because of the nature of the questions. As this class has grown in ability week by week, your ability to answer tougher questions has grown. The end goal is to have provided you with enough context so as to hone your ability to put questions to a rigorous analytic test. Anyway … let’s go!!!!
- U.S.-China relations, to coin a phrase, are subject to a ‘yo-yo’ — ups and downs, practically all the time. The general U.S. media leaves the impression that the main fault is with China; but Kissinger also points to our contribution to the yo-yo syndrome: which is a) corruption in America, or b) the perpetual psychodrama of democratic transitions, or c) the interruptions of the ‘deep state’, or d) the machinations of a deep communist infiltration … (only one of these) is a constant invitation for countries to “hedge their bets” about the United States.
- Prior to 1971, the technical answer in international law was that the U.S. Embassy in Taipei had been a) the center of US spying on mainland China, b) was only the embassy to Taiwan, c) was the American embassy to China, d) of no legal importance.
- Although President Ronald Reagan repeatedly insisted that the U.S. did not support a two-China policy, the former California governor was known to have many friends in Taiwan. When Kissinger explained this to the then Chinese ambassador as Reagan’s campaign for the Presidency was looking stronger, the diplomat from Beijing reacted to this explanation with a) unrelieved enthusiasm b) anger and threats, c) expressed no opinion.
- China’s position on the question of Taiwan has been a serious impediment to better China-U.S. relations. The U.S. says that China should pledge not to use force in the effort to bring the island closer to the mainland, but China says in effect …. a) mind your own matters and manners and leave this one alone, b) tell us why, again, you had to invade Iraq?, c) it is a domestic affair, like – sort of – Washington’s relations with Puerto Rico, d) all of these are in effect Chinese views
- Reagan’s first term China/Taiwan policy was a product of … a) conflicting policy goals, b) contradictory assurances to Beijing and Taiwan, c) completely different (incommensurable) moral and strategic imperatives, d) all of these.
- The Taiwan Relations Act of 1982 was passed by wide margins in the U.S. Congress; it pledged that the U.S. would supply arms to Taiwan to defend itself against aggression. What struck Kissinger most about this contradiction – that the U.S. has a ONE-China policy, but provides the “second” China with military support is …… a) the statesmanship on both sides that over decades has managed to balance this two-faced contradiction, b) the illegality of it, c) the unimportance of Taiwan, d) Beijing’s happiness that we are helping Taiwan.
- Reagan’s first term China/Taiwan policy was a product of … a) conflicting policy goals, b) contradictory assurances to Beijing and Taiwan, c) completely different (incommensurable) moral and strategic imperatives, d) all of these.
- As you understand Kissinger’s (and my) views on this issue, what would you say is the BEST single phrase to encapsulate U.S. policy: a) Moral Clarity, b) Strategic Ambiguity, c) Iron Triangle, d) Three for the Money
- Kissinger says he first sensed China was acting as a superpower in ___________, after the CIA reported on various maneuverings by Beijing, especially with Moscow.
- President Richard Nixon, with vision, saw that an economically developed China would be more helpful to the world than a poor one. The reason was that in this way, Beijing would be a) grateful to us, b) economically interdependent, c) a democracy, d) allied with Japan, which was a U.S. ally.
- As the eight years of the Reagan Presidency came to a close, so did the era of …. a) efforts to export Communism, b) good U.S.-China relations, c) Most Favored Nation treatment, d) scholarships for Chinese mainland students to the U.S.
- The People’s Republic of China in 1980 joined which two major international organizations? a) World Bank and UN, b) UN and World Rugby League, c) IMF and World Bank, or d) WTO and WHO
- In recent years, the government of China has put a lid on how old you can be and still stay in government. But in September 1987, Deng Xiaoping, then ________, gave Kissinger a detailed overview of what he planned to do. Then … a) 60, b) 71, c) 83
- TRUE OR FALSE? Deng, a good communist indeed, was always in favor of having the state control detailed aspects of Chinese daily life.
- In all past Chinese societies, even in business, decisions tend to be made on a) market principles, b) family criteria, c) communist ideology, d) none of the above
- But in America, we would call this system __________.
- In 1989, when the Soviet empire started to crumble, China-US relations were a) pretty good, b) pretty bad, c) horrible, d) non-existent
- By June 1989, China’s domestic situation was a) quite calm, b) hundreds of cities were under protest, c) hard to say.
- In July, things were especially _________ in China’s far west, in Tibet and Uighur Muslim territories … a) quiet, b) agitated, c) unknown.
- In the wake of the Tiananmen crackdown, U.S. public opinion soured on China and its reformist leader Deng. Like the downspin of a yo-yo, the Beijing-Washington relationship went from all good to bad. Deng’s China had an even worse image than Mao’s China, which of course was about as bad as you might ever imagine a country could get. You would hope that America would manage to keep a sense of balance about China, but no…GOOD to BAD, almost overnight. One exception to this yo-yo/ying-yang was, fortunately, the U.S. President George H.W. Bush (Bush the wiser). He knew that if you wanted China to do something, the least effective way was to ___________________________.
- After all, in its heart and soul (thousands of years in the making), China viewed foreigners and their ‘pressure’ as coming from ___________________________.
- Kissinger, who did not work for President George H.W. Bush, characterized his diplomatic performance regarding China as … a) crude, b) non-descript, c) deft
- Here is yet another Chinese saying – by end of this semester, you will become almost an expert in Chinese sayings! This one goes: ‘It is up to the person who tied the knot to untie it’. This was said by … a) Confucius on the fraught issue of divorce of, b) Zhou Enlai on the issue of entangling alliances, c) Deng Xiaoping on U.S. distancing itself from China, d) Qian Qichen on summit conferences that go bad.
- One lesson that Kissinger draws from the horrible Tiananmen mess in 1989 is so central to the understanding we have in this course about the inherent friction that exists in the China-US relationship. Which is that Deng felt he had to act as he did because (select one):
- No one was really hurt, or maybe just a few people,
- His whole regime was under siege
- The People’s Liberation Army would’ve acted without him
And the U.S. felt (select one):
- Deng was nothing more than a murderer
- America’s deepest values were challenged
- Bush felt personally betrayed by Deng
- In what is almost the major theme of this class – China Look U.S./U.S. Look China – Kissinger offers the astounding but correct observation: a) Deng was a liar, b) both sides were right, c) Bush was a hypocrite, d) China and the U.S. will never get along
- China reads its history one-way; we look at China another way. This is at the heart of the U.S.-China problem. For example, Chinese leaders look at the nation’s past and believe that their biggest worry will always be: a) Russian adventurism and invasion, b) collapse of central authority, c) inroads of Christianity, d) the scary ghost of Mao
- The correct answer to #26 means that the greatest fear would have to be the outbreak of __________ .
- Deng had on several occasions described the Cultural Revolution as a ________.
- Many, though not all, U.S. ambassadors to China have been distinguished and accomplished Americans. Who was one of them? a) Admiral Crowe, b) Henry Kissinger, c) Brent Scowcroft, d) James Lilley
- As China’s resurgence under Deng continued, the short, chain-smoking reform leader began to worry that …. a) Economic growth would decline quickly, b) the resurgence would lead China to excessive self-confidence, c) U.S. would invade, d) capitalism was not the answer to its economic woes.
- TRUE STATEMENT, or FALSE? Deng once said that martial law was lifted in Beijing and Tibet in part to appeal to the United States for better relations.
- One of the most famous events in modern China’s history was the Southern Tour – an historic effort to revive flagging economic restructuring by making speeches (even at high schools) in cities such as Shenzhen and Zhuhai. His program was called ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics.’ At the time of this tour, Deng was how old? ___ (By the way, this Southern Tour was to be his last public service).
- Although Communist system of government is collectivist, it is also of course authoritarian. The top leader can have quite an impact on the image and reality of the style and substance of the government of China. Which of the following statements was made by Kissinger to describe what he thought of Deng’s successor Jiang Zemin? a) “a pale and inadequate imitation of Deng”, b) “the least Middle Kingdom type of personality …”, c) even less flexible than Xi Jinping, d) “an uneducated rural yokel”
- Jiang once admitted to Kissinger that China could only go so far in meeting the U.S. halfway because of a) communist iron ideology, b) Russia’s constant pressure, c) Mao’s always-hovering ghost, d)Chinese people’s tolerance
- Before he became head of the Communist Party, Jiang Zemin was… a) a drug addict and distributor, b) mayor of Beijing, c) mayor of Shanghai, d) president of Fudan University
- Many Americans may imagine that their professional diplomats are the best in the world. In fact, a good number of them are terrific – well-educated and hard working. But Americans generally don’t realize that many Chinese diplomats are equally well-trained and dedicated. In fact, “one of the most skillful foreign ministers I have known, says Kissinger, was Chinese; his name was: a) Tim Snyder, b) Hu Bongbang, c) Fan Bing-Bing, d) Qian Qichen
- Who once said? “It won’t do that there should only be a single social system in the world.” ______________________.
- The Clinton administration’s constant harping, in the first 4 years, on China and human rights was in fact intended to edge Beijing into the international system; but in Beijing the effort was viewed as … ________________.
- After U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher’s failed diplomatic trip to Beijing in March 1994, President Clinton reviewed U.S. policy and declared an end to ___________ as a requirement of favorable terms of bilateral trade (MFN) …. a) war, b) support of Taiwan, c) conditionality, d) Ping-pong diplomacy.
- Who once said: ‘…I am not trying to exaggerate our self-importance, but good cooperation between the U.S. and China is important for the world. We will do our best to do that.” a) George H. W. Bush, b) Bill Clinton, c) George W. Bush, d) Jiang Zemin.
