China Confidential [Paperback]

Nancy Bernkopf Tucker (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0231106319 | ISBN-13: 978-0231106313 | Publication Date: January 15, 2001 0

In the past sixty years, relations between China and the United States have fluctuated wildly. Such divisive issues as human rights, the future of Tibet and Taiwan, trade imbalances, and illegal immigration have fueled intense debate over how the United States should deal with the most populous nation in the world.

Nancy Bernkopf Tucker brings together a wide range of interviews on these and other issues, recorded by the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, with key players in the making and execution of U.S. policy towards China since World War II. Historical events usch as Nixon's trip to China, the Tiananmen Massacre, and the recurring Taiwan Straits crises come to life as never before. Portraits of the essential personalities in Sino-American relations emerge from the pages of China Confidential, including Mao Zedong, Henry Kissinger, Zhou Enlai, Ronald Reagan, Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Ching-kuo, and Lee Teng-hui.

This rich array of interviews provides the context for understanding the otherwise baffling diplomatic interaction between the United States and China, shedding light on the circumstances under which difficult and crucial decisions were reached and revealing the background and biases of the people who made and carried out those policies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

These recollections... greatly enhance our knowledge and appreciation of professional diplomats who devoted -- and sometimes sacrificed -- their careers to the pursuit of constructive relations between the United States and China.

(The China Journal Oct-Dec 2005)

A coherent and informative insider's view of a half century of Sino-American relations.... Veteran China watchers will enjoy the stories of people who for many were old friends, and those new to the field will enjoy a wonderful introduction to an insider's view of an important era of diplomatic history.

(China Quarterly )

This book is to be commended for its usefulness to both the academic community and policy circles.

(Wei-Chin Lee Pacific Affairs )

Review

An insider's view of how American policy toward China has been made over the last seven decades, China Confidential is an indispensable source for anyone wishing to understand the formal communiqués, dispatches, and memoranda that constitute the raw materials of diplomatic history and international relations.

(Marc Gallicchio, Villanova University, author of The African American Encounter With Japan and China )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 638 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press (January 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231106319
• ISBN-13: 978-0231106313
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #755,114 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Misleading Reference Book, March 3, 2002

By 

Bert Fraleigh (Sequim, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: China Confidential (Paperback)

Having served in the State Dept. in Shanghai from 1947 thru 1950
and in Taiwan for 15 years and elsewhere in Asia thru 1976 and
knowing most of those providing the oral histories for this book as well as many of the Chinese principals, I am appalled by the poor proofreading and editing which permited many, many factual inaccuracies to slip through. Also, many of the quoted oral statements are surprisingly superficial and fallacious. Therefore, this book makes very dangerous reading for today's Asian and China scholars since it purports to be the real inside
story straight from the horses mouths whereas its errors can only
generate incorrect history.

If the book is read with this caveat, it does provide very useful background insights for this most important part of 20th. Century experience as well as of the complexities nations face in developing and administering foreign policy. The book is well
laid out and gives a great amount of background information but
the reader should retain a healthy skepticism and draw his own
conclusions realizing that he is reading other's opinions, many
of them recollections of events and years long gone by.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Review of Sino-American Relations, July 12, 2001

By 

Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: China Confidential (Paperback)

This book is a comprehensive review of Sino-American relations from the birth of the PRC to the end of Clinton's first term. From early controversies during the relationship, such as the expulsion of American diplomats in NE China in 1949 and America's involvement in the Chinese Civil War, to more recent crisises such as the 1996 Taiwan Strait missle exercises, this book reviews the dynamics of the Sino-American relationship and how individual diplomats and statesmen made such crucial differences in the conduct of the relationship. Kissenger and then Brzezinski's roles were especially important and the author explores the personal nature of how diplomacy was conducted, include how both men, who were Nationa Security Advisor to their respective presidents, outmanuevered their Secretary of State and the State Department. A very good read and overview of an important topic.