Holdridge, John H. 1989
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The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR JOHN H. HOLDRIDGE Interviewed by: Marshall Green and Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: December 14, 1989 C pyright 1998 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Childhood a road Foreign Service exam Chinese language training Bangkok, Thailand Hong $ong 1953-1956 Information flo, Singapore 1956-1958 Chinese culture Chinese Affairs 1958-196. Tai,an Attempts to resume contact ,ith Chinese communists $issinger/s handshake ,ith Chou 0n-lai Sino-Soviet rift Hong $ong 196.-1966 Chinese attitude to,ards Hong $ong 1reat 2eap For,ard 3S-Chinese relations Chinese invasion of India 4arsa, talks Peaceful coexistence National Security Council 1969-1973 Presidential trip to the Pacific Chinese relations ,ith 3S and 3SSR Nixon/s attitude to,ard the Foreign Service $issinger/s trip to China Cultural Revolution 1 Shanghai Communi8u9 Peking, China 1973-1975 Opening 2iaison Office David Bruce Chinese relations ,ith Indonesia 3S arms sales to Tai,an Sco,croft and 0agle urger/s visit to Peking Analysis of 3S Chinese relations INTERVIEW % (Green): J hn H ldridge has had a remarkable career. He is ne f the tw pe ple I kn w wh is a -est P int graduate and wh ended up in the State Department. Hank /yr ade is the ther ne. Ambassad r H ldridge has been my c lleague n three ccasi ns. First, I was regi nal planning advis r f r East Asia back in the late 1920s. During that time, he was the Department4s intelligence fficer dealing with that part f the w rld. My sec nd enc unter with him is when I was c nsul general in H ng K ng fr m 1951 t 1953. He was chief f the p litical secti n all during the time I was there and f r s me time after that. The third enc unter was 7uite a fam us ne. It had t d with the time when he was w rking f r Henry Kissinger in the Nati nal Security C uncil as specialist n China affairs. He als helped t arrange f r Henry Kissinger4s miracul us visit t China, behind the backs f m st f us in the State Department. During that time, I was the assistant secretary f r that part f the w rld. He and I eventually acc mpanied President 8i9 n ut t China. Thereafter, J hn and I visited all the p sts in East Asia t enlighten the leaders in that part f the w rld with regard t ur China p licy. ( hn remained in the Service. Subse7uently, he served as ambassad r in Singap re, assistant secretary f state, and ambassad r t Ind nesia, retiring finally in January 1985. ( hn, as a -est P int graduate and as ne wh had f ught in - rld -ar II with the Army, h w did y u get int China speciali:ati n; HO2DRID10: It ,as a rather circuitous route. 3nfortunately, I graduated from 4est Point in June of 1945 and I missed the fighting. 4hat I sa, ,as the aftermath of 4orld 4ar II--the picking up of the pieces. 2 My first introduction came through Army connections. My father ,as an Army officer stationed in the Philippines. In those days, all good Army officers ,ere paid enough and saved 8uite a bit on the Philippine economy. They saved up their money and ,ent up to China just before they returned home. It ,as possi le to pick up the Army transport at Qinhuangdao Shandong. 4e ,ent first to Hong $ong, Canton, and Shanghai. 4e then ,ent to Japan for a couple of ,eeks-- % (Green): ) w ld were y u; HO2DRID10: I ,as eleven. Then ,e ,ent to Beijing via Tientsin for the period of early March to early May. This is all in 1937, just as the Japanese ,ar ,as beginning to generate. In fact, ,e traveled on a Japanese ship serving as a troop transport from Osaka to Ne, Port, or Xin 1ang as it is no, called. It ,as just loaded to the gunnels ,ith Japanese troops. It ,as an Osaka Shosen $aishan ship, ,hich I am sure you are familiar ,ith. In the city of Beijing itself you could feel a sort of tenseness. 4e stayed at a place called the College of Chinese Studies, ,hich ,as cheap. 4e al,ays looked for something less expensive. Missionaries and businessmen came there to learn to speak Chinese. It ,as located in the Tartar City in the northeastern 8uadrant of Beijing, very close to ,here the foreign ministry today is, in fact. One of my early memories of that place ,as seeing the Japanese troops marching through the old city ,alls, since torn do,n, for exercises. The Japanese presence ,as all over the place. I ran into some Chinese Army language officers at that time and fell in love ,ith Beijing. I resolved that, if I ever had the chance, I ,ould learn Chinese. After graduation from 4est Point, I ,as sent to $orea and spent t,o and a half years there and came back. I had taken my Foreign Service exams ,hile in $orea, thinking that this might be something-- % (Green): This is K rea bef re the war; HO2DRID10: This ,as in 1947. I spent those several years in $orea primarily as an engineer officer. Dick 0ricson, ,hom you may recall, ,as the only other mem er of the group of several hundred ,ho took the exams and ,ho passed, as far as I kno,, and ,ho came into the Foreign Service. Coming back to 4ashington, I had been informed shortly before my time ,as up in $orea that I had passed the exams and that I could go in, if I could pass the orals. I ,ent from Fort Belvoir, ,here I ,as assigned, to take the orals in 4ashington, D. C. Old Joe 1reen ,as the head of the Board of 0xaminers and I passed. It took me t,o months to get in instead of the t,o years that it sometimes takes no,. Shortly after I became a Foreign 3 Service officer, I ,as asked if I ,anted to take Chinese language training. I ,as in the FSI at that time. I jumped at it. % (Green): S they gave y u the ffer f Chinese; Y u didn4t g t them; HO2DRID10: Aes. % (Green): This is early 1948 that y u are talking ab ut. HO2DRID10: Aes. I joined the Foreign Service in May of 1948 and left the Army in March. 4hile I ,as in the FSI, the usual pro lems cropped up. They had money for instruction but no money for travel. They couldnBt send people back from overseas. They snatched up some of the younger guys ,ho ,ere availa le and asked if they ,anted to take Chinese language or other languages. In fact, I found myself in a class essentially ,ith Japanese language officers, O,ens Curhellen and Dave Os orn and 0d Seidensticker. % (Green): A l t f my c lleagues with wh m I had g ne t B ulder (U.S. Navy Japanese Language Sch l). HO2DRID10: ThatBs right. They ,ere graduates of Boulder, to a man. I ,as the only Chinese officer among them. I ,ent on from FSI to Cornell and then to Harvard, studying Chinese all this time. That is ho, I got into the business. I had this predisposition going ack to 1937. In 1948, the Foreign Service gave me the opportunity, ,hich I took gladly. % (Green): Y u really had three years f language study, didn4t y u; It was FSI, C rnell, and Harvard. HO2DRID10: 4ell, I did because the FSI course ,as a compressed one-year course into a couple of months. Then I ,ent on into Chinese at Cornell. That included literary Chinese. 4e ,ere studying the characters in ne,spaper Chinese and the ,orks. % (Green): -as Harvard the same thing; HO2DRID10: Aes. Again, ,e studied 2eggBs Classics. % (Green): Y u really had a g d immersi n in Chinese language, didn4t y u; HO2DRID10: The pro lem ,as that, in my judgement, they concentrated too much on the literature and the ,ritten Chinese and not enough on the spoken. It took me 8uite a ,hile to fit into-- % (Green): That was e9actly my pr blem with studying Japanese. Y ur first assignment was t Bangk k. 4 HO2DRID10: Aes. There I ,as Chinese language officer for, of all things, 3SIS. I ,as the most junior officer in the em assy there, but I had an area of concern ,hich ,as the very large Chinese population in Thailand. At that time, they thought it ,as useful to make a distinction bet,een the Thai Thai and the Chinese Thai. % (Green): They g t al ng pretty well with each ther, didn4t they; HO2DRID10: ItBs the only country in Southeast Asia ,here you find the religious situation is compati le. That is, the Thai are Buddhists. They happen to be Theravada Buddhists. The Chinese are Buddhists ,ho happen to e Mahayana Buddhists. There is no prejudice on religious grounds. The practices arenBt, of course, exactly similar. % (Green): Didn4t they f rce the Thai Chinese t take Thai names, that is, t give up their Chinese names; HO2DRID10: They did that. Indeed, the Chinese ,ere much more separate until 19.6 ,hen the then king of Thailand--I think it ,as $ing Prajatipok--decided that this ,as intolera le and that there had to be a reduction in Chineseness and an increase in Thainess.