The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project DONALD M. ANDERSON Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: July 8, 1992 Copyright 1998 A ST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Raised in owa Louisiana State University U.S. Army in 1950's Entered Foreign Service in 195, Department of State 195,-19.0 nternational Education Service Chinese language training - Taichun0 Taiwan U.S. attitude towards Communist China Hong 1ong 19.2-19.5 American citi3en services Passport fraud Consular duties4commercial China and 5ietnam 6ar issue C A operations 7reat Leap Forward fiasco EA0 China Desk 19..-1980 6arsaw talks 9ao's Cultural Revolution Soviet-Chinese relations Chou-En-lai Chinese cancel talks in 1980 New Delhi0 ndia 1980-1982 Political officer0 external affairs China- ndia conflict over Aksai Chin Ambassador 1eating U.S. - ndian relations Pakistan- ndia conflicts Paris0 France 1982-1983 Ambassador 6atson Political officer - liaison with Chinese Henry 1issinger and Chinese Beijing0 China (1983-85) Liaison officer 9r. and 9rs. 9ao Security matters Relations with 7overnment Chinese bureaucracy 7eorge Bush Hong 1ong 1985-1988 Economic/Political officer EA 1988-19,0 Deputy US Rep0 9icronesian negotiations China desk Normali3ing relations with China Taiwan lobby in Congress Shanghai0 China 19,0-19,3 Consul 7eneral Local environment 7ang of Four U.S. interests 5isas EA China Desk 19,3-19,5 Reagan's China visit Comments on Hong 1ong's future Departure for Hong 1ong Hong 1ong 19,.-1990 Consul 7eneral Changes Effect of Aoint Declaration of 19,4 Tiananmen SCuare INTERVIEW ": Today is July 8th, 1992. This is an interview with Donald M. Anderson. We're doing this on behalf of the Association for Diplomatic Studies, and I am Charles Stuart Kennedy. I wonder if you could give me a bit about your background, where you came from, where educated? ANDERSOND was born in Sioux City0 owa and went through the public school system there0 through high school0 went to Louisiana State University for undergraduate school. ": What were you ma,oring in? ANDERSOND majored in government0 and at that time LSU had a small0 but thought a very good government department. ended up getting a fellowship and spending an extra year working on a master's degree. 6hen went into the Army... ": -ou went in when? ANDERSOND That was 1955. had gotten a ROTC commission0 and was called to active duty so spent the next two years in the Army0 first in El Paso0 Texas0 and then outside of Providence0 Rhode sland in a surface to air missile unit. 6hile was in the Army0 guess it must have been 195. or '580 took the Foreign Service exam0 and passed it and was supposed to go into the Foreign Service immediately upon leaving the military. As usual0 the State Department0 when the time came0 had had a budget cut and there was a hiring free3e so waited for about six months and ended up actually coming on board in the Foreign Service in April of 195,. ": Were you with a class at that time, a basic officer's class? ANDERSOND Ees. There were 25 in the basic officer's class. ": Because these things change, what was the outlook? Was this going to be a career, or something to try on for si/e, would you say, for this group? ANDERSOND 6ithin the group there was a great variety. For me0 think always did consider it a career. n fact0 when was in high school in Sioux City0 owa was thinking about the Foreign Service. barely knew what it was but it was something wanted to do0 and must say was discouraged by my teachers in high school who told me that only people who went to the vy League schools could aspire to a career in the Foreign Service. think for others it was very much a trial. 9y recollection is that of the 25 who joined in our basic class0 within two or three years at least 40F had dropped out. ": Because these things are changing rapidly, I addressed the last junior officer class of 02 and 11 of them, 204, were women. ANDERSOND 6hen joined0 there was one woman0 and think by today's standards we were generally a younger group of people. n fact0 think that at the time joined you couldn't be over 31 because then you didn't make it into whatever it was you had to do. One of the 25 was very near the edge of being too old to be hired. But the rest of us were mostly anywhere from 22 to 2. or 28. ": -our first job was in the State Department for two years. What were you doing? ANDERSOND came into the Foreign Service in the wake of the 6riston program0 after the 6riston Report integrated the State Department civil service and the Foreign Service. The State Department hiring rate was up0 and basically think they were looking for jobs for people. People were not going overseas immediately on their first assignment. t was more normal to be assigned in 6ashington0 and was assigned to the nternational Education Service-- ES as it was known0 which was the forerunner of the Bureau of Cultural Affairs0 which then got spun off to US A. was staff assistant to a division chief and we handled all of the senior academic exchanges0 the Fulbright Program0 and Smith Nundt. These were professorial exchanges0 high school teachers and research scholars. ": Where were these from? All over or... ANDERSOND All over. ": The Soviet 5nion too, or not? ANDERSOND No0 don't think there was any Soviet program at all at that point. ": What was your impression within the State Department of this e6change program? Was it a good thing? Was it working? Were there problems? ANDERSOND Oh0 think it was an excellent program. ts now administered out of US A where it probably should have been to begin with. For someone who had gone into the Foreign Service0 dreaming of being a diplomat0 it was not exactly what had envisioned as my first job0 but it was true of a lot of people at that time. They were in a way creating jobs that probably weren't necessary. ": How did the Chinese connection which, of course, ran through your entire career but how did this start? Coming from Siou6 City... ANDERSOND 've been asked that many0 many times. About the only answer can think of is that when was in the third grade0 believe0 my third grade school teacher was a former Chinese missionary. She used to read us stories about China0 and take us over to her house and show us all of the things that she had brought back from China. Then when was at LSU obviously there wasn't much of a China program0 but they did have a course in Chinese political history0 and took that. And in my graduate year at LSU started working on a master's thesis on the 1945-48 period of U.S.-China relations0 the 9arshall 9ission0 etc. So had an interest in China0 and the April Fool's sheet that you fill out... ": This was the post preference report that came around and due on the first of April, hence the name April Fools Sheet. ANDERSOND From the very beginning reCuested Chinese language training. remember Cuite clearly that got a phone call from Personnel...actually had been assigned to 9unich and was Cuite pleased with the assignment. was going to the Consular Section in the Consulate 7eneral in 9unich. And got a phone call from Personnel saying that they had noted my application for Chinese language training and that the Chinese program was very overcrowded but they could get me into Cambodian right away. told them0 thank you0 but no thank you0 and sort of made up my mind that was going to go on to 9unich. t wasn't more than two or three days later that they called back and said that had indeed been accepted for Chinese language training0 which meant another year in 6ashington which just about broke my wife's heart because at that time we had one daughter two years old0 and one daughter six months old0 and she was very much looking forward to sailing to 9unich. But we did the year in 6ashington and then went off to Taiwan for the second year of Chinese language training. ": The school was not in Taipei was it? ANDERSOND No0 it was down in Taichung. ": How was the course conducted there? ANDERSOND 6ell0 it was a very informal place. Taichung at that time was0 guess0 a city of 5000000 people0 but by Chinese standards it was a very small town. t reminded me in terms of si3e of something akin to Sioux City0 owa. The school was in a large what had been imagine a single home. There were about 20- 25 students from US A0 C A0 State. That was pretty much it at that time. The classes were basically tutorials. One would have some classes with two or three students in it0 but as you progressed into more advanced Chinese it was usually a one on one situation. The latter part of the course was really basically devoted to newspaper reading because reading Chinese is the time consuming part. 6e gave speeches0 and we had lectures0 and area studies lectures in Chinese. t was Cuite a well run program0 think. ": Did you feel that you were absorbing the Nationalist Chinese point of view? Or was it relatively apolitical? ANDERSOND 6ell0 inevitably...being in Taiwan0 you were exposed much more to the Nationalist point of view.