My American Journey: on Foreign Policy
Mao’s China had thorough thought control but not paranoia
What struck me about China [during a 1973 visit as a White House Intern], particularly after visiting the Soviet Union, was the absence of paranoia. Our Chinese guides seemed less frightened than their Soviet counterparts. They were not constantly
searching our baggage, restraining our movements, or stopping us from taking pictures. Two distinctive threads, however, ran through the Chinese experience. You could ask an ordinary person in Beijing, Canton, or any village, “How are you doing?” and the
answer was invariably a smile and “Fine. Under Chairman Mao we have a sewing machine, a radio, a bicycle.” The thoroughness of thought control in so vast a country was frightening. The second iron rule was that Chinese officials would admit shortcomings,
but never error.One day on the Soviet border we turned to see two Chinese MiG-19s streak into the sky. “What was that?” I asked our guide, who continued to gaze ahead placidly and silently. “What was what?” he answered. End of discussion.
Source: My American Journey, by Colin Powell, p. 169
Jan 1, 1995
Somalia: Feeding hungry OK; national-building not
I spent my 56th birthday in Mogadishu trying to move the Somalia operation off America’s back and onto the UN’s, where it had been in the first place. We had accomplished our mission by ending the civil disorder that had disrupted the production and
distribution of food and led to the mass starvation. It was now up to the UN force to maintain that order. But the UN approved a resolution shifting the mission from feeding the hungry to “nation building,” a phrase I had first heard in Vietnam. But the
will to build a nation originates from within its people, not from the outside. Nation building might have an inspirational ring, but it struck me as a way to get bogged down in Somalia, not get out. [In early discussions with newly-elected President
Clinton], Somalia was uppermost in my thoughts. I told him we could not substitute our version of democracy for hundreds of years of tribalism. “We can’t make a country out of that place. We’ve got to find a way to get out, and soon,” I said.
Source: My American Journey, by Colin Powell, p. 565 & 572
Jan 1, 1995
Haiti: Imperfect agreements are better than war
[While negotiating with the Haitian president], Jimmy Carter laid out the terms for stopping the US invasion, as I got word back to President Clinton. “Mr. President, I think we’ve got some movement here. We just need more time.”
Clinton was uneasy. He was not going to change the invasion timetable, he said, but we could keep talking a little longer. The documents were prepared, and Carter and the Haitian ministers signed them. The storming of Haiti had been averted at
H-Hour minus six.The agreement we worked out was criticized. The “thugs” supposedly got off too easily. I was attacked for playing on the honor of dishonorable men. The criticism did not bother me. Once the US troops set foot in Haiti,
for better or worse, we ran the place. What happened to the junta was inconsequential. Because of what we accomplished, young Americans, and probably far more Haitians, who would have died were still alive. That was success enough for me.
Source: My American Journey, by Colin Powell, p. 585-6
Jan 1, 1995
Economic strength more important than military strength
In this new world, economic strength will be more important than military strength. Nations seeking power through military strength, the development of nuclear weapons, terrorism, or tyrannical governments are mining “fool’s gold.”
They can never hope to match or challenge the military or economic power of the free world led by the US. Despotic regimes will come to realize it in due course, when they find themselves left behind while free nations prosper
and provide a better life for their people. One only has to look at China to see a nation slowly finding a place in the world, not through the strength of the People’s Liberation Army or Mao’s Little Red Book, but through the release of the creative
entrepreneurial power of the Chinese people. In Vietnam, American businesses are being invited in to repair the economic disaster created by two decades of “victorious” communism. We should encourage and support these impulses.
Source: My American Journey, by Colin Powell, p. 588
Jan 1, 1995
Page last updated: Dec 12, 2018