Text/Chen Xiang Editor/Qi Fei
On October 18, 2021, Colin Luther Powell died of complications from COVID-19 at the age of 84. He has been vaccinated, but as a patient with multiple myeloma, complications can occur once infected with COVID-19. He is the first black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in U.S. history, the first Black Secretary of State, and the most famous American to die of COVID-19 to date.
Powell's life can be summed up in a preface from his autobiography, which was first printed in more than 1 million copies: "This book is the story of a poor boy from a family of black immigrants with limited income. He grew up in the South Bronx of New York and thus became the President's National Security Adviser and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This story tells that I struggled hard and luck, and most of the time it went well, but there were also difficult moments... Most importantly, it is a love story: love of family, love of friends, love of the army, love of the country. This story can only take place in the United States. ”
In the fall of 1954, Powell wore the uniform of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps.
This American legend also has a deep relationship with China. Commenting on his death, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular news conference on October 19: "Secretary of State Powell is a senior US diplomat, and we express our deep condolences for his passing away and sincere condolences to his family." ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" >'s first visit to China: Seize the "unique opportunity to learn first-hand knowledge of China."</h1>
Before Powell took the helm of the State Department, he had Chinese mainland in 1973 and 1983, which is a rare source.
In July 1973, the United States delegation visited Chinese mainland for a three-week visit. Five White House researchers in military capacity went with the group, one of whom was Powell. He was inducted into the White House Fellows' Class of 1972-1973, with 17 of 1,500 applicants. The age of the inductees is between 23 and 35 years old, with Powell, 35, the oldest.
The White House Fellows Program, which began during the Johnson era, is seen as a propeller for the promotion of promising young people, nominated by business and academic leaders, and barred government employees from applying, with the exception of military officers. Fierce competition was implemented in the US military, and the four major services of the army, navy, air force and marine corps also competed for nominations. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for young and promising officers to experience the rising ladder of civilian power and lay the foundation for high-level political connections for future military leaders.
Powell, Vietnam, 1963.
Powell's application criteria were perfect, with excellent graduates from all the military academies he attended, a bunch of merits, a master's degree in business administration (officers generally choose to study international politics outside the military), and more importantly, the color of his skin. The military chose him in an effort to prove to society that the army has made efforts in the cause of racial equality.
But at first, Powell was unhappy, which meant that he had to leave the command position of the army for two years, deviating from the traditional army promotion path. In hindsight, this new path was a shortcut.
Through the Fellows program, he gained an understanding of domestic issues and how government works, and was pleased to find himself helping the military and the White House build better channels of communication. More importantly, he made good connections in the future of high-level politics. "Over the past few years, a rift has emerged between the military and the society in which it operates. My relationship with these young future American leaders may help narrow that rift. He said hesitantly.
Nearly nine months into the program, everyone had to choose a position in the White House and Cabinet Office list. Powell interviewed the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the FBI, found that it was not suitable, and finally chose the Office of Management Budget. In February 1973, after a change in the organization's personnel, he had the privilege of becoming a special assistant to the deputy director. The content of the job is secondary, and it is important to have a large number of opportunities to reach high-level politicians.
In early 1973, White House researchers had the privilege of touring the Soviet Union; that summer, they came to China, which was seen as a more mysterious and closed china in the Eyes of the Western world. How fortunate that there were several officers in active service in the US military who had such a travel experience under the Iron Curtain, both in the Soviet Union and in Red China.
In the fall of 1972, President Richard Nixon received White House researcher Powell
Powell and other Americans arrived in Guangzhou on July 23 Chinese mainland from Hong Kong. "The endless stream of bicycles glides around us on clean and dirt-free streets. I was amazed that a city as big as it was still so clean and so quiet. Powell recalled afterwards.
Subsequently, American guests went to the capital Beijing and toured the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. In a humble hospital in rural Beijing, Americans watched a woman undergo a 20-minute thyroid surgery under acupuncture anesthesia. Powell was far more impressed by this than a tour of the Forbidden City, and he noticed that the patient stood up after the operation, drank a glass of lemon juice, and left.
Then, the Americans came to Shenyang, an important industrial city, and visited a machinery factory. In his view, the factory's work system is like a fantasy, workers and cadres work 6 days a week, no vacation, and a monthly salary equivalent to $52. Of course, out of the estrangement from unfamiliar national conditions, he did not know that the factories at that time provided workers with a welfare system that included life, old age, illness and death. Powell muttered, "Although the conditions are so bad that American workers will organize strikes, these people seem to be satisfied." ”
On December 12, 1990, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Powell, spoke to members of the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, at an air base in Saudi Arabia. This is an A-10 attack aircraft unit
In all places, Americans casually pull a local and ask "how is life?" and get a smile and answer: "Very good!" Under Chairman Mao's leadership, we had sewing machines, radios, and bicycles. "Comparing the two countries under the Iron Curtain, Powell felt that the biggest difference between China and the Soviet Union was that China did not have paranoia." Our Chinese tour guides did not seem to be as fearful as their Soviet comrades. They didn't constantly search our luggage, didn't restrict our movements, or stopped us from taking photos. ”
The trip was hot and unair-conditioned, but every meal was sumptuous, with officials from around the world bringing out locally produced liquor and welcoming everyone from the delegation to the White House, who was pleased with the trip, which symbolized the final step in normalizing relations between the two countries. Brent Scowcroft, then Secretary of State's deputy and deputy national security adviser, wrote to Defense Secretary James Schlesinger praising the significance of the military's participation in the delegation, saying that officers, including Powell, seized "a unique opportunity to learn first-hand knowledge of China" and that "the United States has also benefited from their contributions to improving better understanding of each other."
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > to resist the Soviet Union's revisit to China: "Let them realize that the United States is not hostile</h1>."
In September 1983, Reagan-era Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberg led a delegation to Beijing, beginning a special Sino-US military honeymoon period of the 1980s. As a major general in the army, Powell was Weinberg's senior military assistant, and the two had a close relationship, and naturally accompanied the minister on his visit to Beijing.
In 2001, during his visit to China, Powell took a group photo with then Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
The two countries formally established diplomatic relations on January 1, 1979, and signed a number of cooperation agreements on science and technology, trade, oil exploration, hydropower and so on, and the trade volume soared to 5 billion US dollars per year. The Carter administration at the time, especially Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, considered that the opening of close military cooperation with Beijing would stimulate Moscow and undermine the US-Soviet détente that President Carter was carrying out, so it discouraged the initiation of Sino-US military cooperation.
Fortuitous events changed the course of history, with the Soviet Union invading Afghanistan in late 1979 and the collapse of the U.S.-Soviet policy of détente. Reagan, known for his toughness toward the Soviet Union, became president of the United States in January 1981, succeeding Carter. American society expressed its determination by vote to rearmament not only to contain the aggressive Offensive of the Soviet Union in the 1970s, but also to defeat the Soviet Union and win the final victory of the Cold War.
At this time, the Soviet Union created unprecedented strategic pressure on China. Afghanistan, which borders China, was plunged into war, and the Soviet army and the resistance forces were in a stalemate; soviet-backed Vietnam invaded Cambodia at the end of 1978, driving the Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge regime out of the city; Vietnam's Cam Ranh Bay became the Soviet Union's largest overseas military base, with Soviet warships and warplanes coming to China from time to time to play edge balls; and Soviet union ally India occasionally made small moves on the Sino-Indian border.
At the United Nations Security Council meeting on February 5, 2003, Powell pulled out a test tube containing white powder as evidence that Iraq was engaged in chemical weapons of mass destruction
The first U.S. defense secretary to visit Beijing was Harold Brown of the Carter administration, and the two sides reached cooperation on very low-level, limited projects such as military training and logistics, but no agreement was reached on the most core arms sales. This time, Weinberg will strengthen military cooperation between China and the United States and open the way for arms sales to Beijing. In addition, he has a more important mission, to make a front station for the Chinese premier's visit to the United States and Reagan's visit to China.
Weinberg's accompanying team appeared to be a prominent line-up a few years later. For example, Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Armitage, who was deputy secretary of state under George W. Bush, was the Assistant Secretary of State for asia and the Pacific, who was Deputy Secretary of Defense under George W. Bush, and the Bush fathers and sons, Clinton, and Obama all more or less promoted the hawkish Wolfowitz theory. Weinberg's assessment of Powell was: "He was one of the best officers and the best people I've worked with in years." ”
Before leaving, Weinberg sought out a Harvard classmate and journalist, Bai Xiude. Because of his closeness to the Soviet Union and the falsification of news, Heyud was once discredited in the United States, but it became popular again as Sino-US relations broke the ice. He told Weinberg: "Chinese is very realistic, they know that the Soviet Union poses a real threat to them, and we don't." So, if you have enough patience and persuasion, you can eventually establish a bilateral military relationship with them. ”
On October 25, 2004, Powell sneaked to the Wangfujing New Dongan Market to buy Beijing specialties
After a gap of 10 years, Powell set foot on this land again. On September 25, 1983, Weinberg and his party flew from Tokyo to Beijing to board President Johnson's "Air Force One." The plane was loaded with an astonishing number of briefing sets that U.S. personnel needed to read on the long journey from Washington to Tokyo. After arriving in Beijing, Weinberg and his party were received by Zhang Aiping, deputy secretary general of the Central Military Commission and minister of national defense.
"He looks a little restrained and can't seem to grasp the extent of his enthusiasm." Weinberg described Zhang Aiping in his memoir "Fighting for Peace", "Our host showed more and more enthusiasm, and, in the end, showed great friendship... His genuine warmth and attentive care for me is unmatched by a visit anywhere in the world. ”
Powell visited the Forbidden City again, and his master Weinberg was visiting Chinese mainland for the first time. Weinberg is no stranger to Chinese culture and history, and he is a lover of Chinese food and has tasted san Francisco's high-end Chinese restaurants. Over the next two days, China and the United States held talks in the Great Hall of the People, with neatly arranged Chinese and American officers sitting on either side of the long table with green tables. On September 27, Powell and others visited the firing exercise of an infantry division on the outskirts of Beijing, and the accuracy was very good, and everyone saw that the PLA urgently needed to modernize in all aspects.
Weinberg had been looking forward to going to the Great Wall, and when he came to the field, the excitement he showed touched the accompanying Chinese. "The Great Wall is actually much steeper than it looks. The Great Wall, built in accordance with the requirements of military engineering, is a miracle unparalleled in the world. Weinberg sighed. At this time, Powell was already visiting the Great Wall for the second time.
After meeting with Deng Xiaoping, American guests flew to Xi'an on a Chinese plane. After dinner after visiting the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum, Weinberg threw out a toast that the team had painstakingly made, pointing out that the People's Liberation Army should be like the Great Wall of the year to defend China from threats from the north. The words were warmly welcomed by the Chinese, and Powell witnessed this exciting moment.
On October 25, 2004, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing met with visiting Powell.
"After that, in private or in public, they assured me that they knew where the real threat was coming from, that it was indeed from the North — the Soviet Union, of course, not from the East — and they recognized that the United States was not hostile and wanted only friendly relations with the People's Republic of China." Weinberg recalled.
The Americans then visited the Xi'an Aircraft Factory, which manufactures transport and bombers, and found that the operating rate was less than half of the actual operating capacity. They then flew to Shanghai, the final stop of their trip to China, where their main purpose was to visit the naval base, and they entered an obsolete Soviet-style submarine, which was the main force of the PLA submarine force. On September 29, Powell and others boarded their plane in Shanghai to bid farewell to China.
In June 1984, Zhang Aiping returned to the United States. At this time, Zhang Aiping's closest friend in the United States was Weinberg, and Powell once again accompanied the minister to meet with Chinese guests. On this trip to the United States, the United States agreed to export advanced avionics systems for fighter jets, Tau anti-tank missiles, Hawker anti-aircraft missiles, and rocket range extenders, armor-piercing shells and high explosives used by artillery. China sold more than a dozen J-7s modeled after Soviet MiG-21 fighter jets, as well as supporting parts, equipped with the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron, the Red Hawk Squadron, for training exercises.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="7" > the secretary of state visited China three times during his tenure and became a "repairer" of Sino-US relations</h1>
From October 1989 to September 1993, Powell served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This position, along with the Department of Defense, is a product of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the highest-ranking military position in the United States, serving as the President, Secretary of Defense, and Chief Military Adviser to the National Security Council.
Powell ushered in the Gulf War during this term of office, and the brilliant victory allowed the US military to sweep away the haze since the Vietnam War, and the prestige of the army in the hearts of the people reached the peak of the victory in World War II. And Powell, a charismatic black general, attracted the attention of the people of the whole country and became the best symbol of victory, patriotic passion, and global hegemony.
On September 30, 1993, Powell attended his retirement ceremony and ended his 35-year military career. Newly appointed US President Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton attended the retirement ceremony, and the elder Bush and his wife were also present. Clinton praised at the time: "I can feel a strong sense of responsibility in his heart, for life and life, for the present and future of every American soldier." Next, he collaborated with experienced biographer Joseph Posco to write an autobiography, and Random House couldn't wait to pre-buy the rights for $6 million. As soon as the biography came out, it topped the best-seller list, with millions of copies printed for the first time, and he was busy with speeches and signings, making a lot of money through royalties and speeches.
Powell
As a veteran military politician, Powell was welcomed by both Republicans and Democrats, who once wanted him to be the vice presidential candidate, but eventually announced his membership in the Republican Party. After President George W. Bush, the son of president bush, took office as president in January 2001, he invited Powell to serve as secretary of state, and he readily agreed. In this president's cabinet, Powell has too many acquaintances.
During the bush administration's four-year tenure, Powell's name was associated with almost all major international events, and he visited China three times during his four-year term and was one of the most important executors and witnesses of Sino-US relations.
Not long after taking office, George W. Bush encountered his first major diplomatic crisis— the Sino-US plane collision on April 1, 2001. Two days later, Bush openly demanded that China return the plane that had landed and release its crew members, and China insisted that the United States first admit its mistake and make an official apology.
The situation escalated, and Powell took the lead in apologizing to the Chinese side, breaking the deadlock created by the United States. On April 4, in an interview with reporters, he expressed regret over the disappearance of the pilot of the Plaus Navy Aviation Corps. Subsequently, in his personal capacity, he wrote to Qian Qichen, China's vice premier in charge of foreign affairs, in which he wrote: "I would like to take this opportunity to tell you that President Bush is very concerned about the missing Chinese pilots." He and I, and all the American people, expressed concern and prayers for the pilot's family and loved ones. ”
On July 28, 2001, as Secretary of State, Powell visited China for the first time. The plane collision incident in the South China Sea has led to a trough in Sino-US relations, and Powell has played the role of "repairer" of Sino-US relations. His trip to Beijing not only announced the return of normal relations between the two countries, but also made preparations for President George W. Bush's autumn visit to China.
Before his visit, he constantly raised his voice to create public opinion, clearly expressing the desire of the US Government not to be an enemy of China, to improve Sino-US relations in the future, and to develop friendly cooperation with China. He will meet with President Jiang Zemin, Premier Zhu Rongji, and Vice Premier Qian Qichen.
Standard photo of Powell when he was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Before that, Qian Qichen, who had been in charge of diplomatic work for many years, met with Powell in Washington on March 21. Among the contents reached by the two sides, an important part is that the two sides believe that China's accession to the World Trade Organization as soon as possible conforms to the common interests of the two peoples and the people of the world, and said that they will make joint efforts to this end. On December 11, 2001, China officially joined the WTO and became its 143rd member, thus opening a new era for China's economy.
"Today, I walked back and forth several times on the way from the station to the meeting place... Through the car window, I saw that many buildings were under construction, and Beijing was changing dramatically. During his visit to China, Powell said sincerely at a press conference, "Every time I see a different situation, what I see today is completely different from what I saw when I came to Beijing in 1973, and there are many changes from what I saw in 1983." I think this is the result of China's commitment to economic development after joining the international community. ”
On February 23, 2003, Powell visited China again, which was also the first visit of a US secretary of state to China after the 9/11 incident. Before his trip, he extended his kindness to the Chinese media, saying: "We want to work with China to contribute to China's economic growth and benefit all Chinese people, not only in cities, but also in other parts of China." It is therefore entirely possible for us, two countries with different political systems and beliefs, to cooperate, to narrow our differences and to support each other. We don't see China as an enemy. ”
On October 24, 2004, 20 months later, Powell visited China for the third time while secretary of state. The biggest "gift" he brought to Beijing on this trip was to clearly express his anti-"Taiwan independence" stance. In an exclusive interview with CNN and Phoenix TV, he made remarks such as "not supporting 'Taiwan independence'" and "hoping that the two sides of the strait will eventually move toward peaceful reunification." "Taiwan is not independent, it does not enjoy sovereignty as a country. That's still our policy, it's our unwavering policy. Powell's remarks struck a blow at the arrogance of the Chen Shui-bian authorities.
On November 13 of the same year, Powell again commented on Sino-US relations in an interview with CNN, saying that now is the "best time for relations" between the two countries in more than 30 years. He said what the United States wants to do is engage with China, observe China's development with a "cautious" rather than "afraid" mood, and aim to move forward with China, not to "contain" China.
The only fatal failure of Powell's life occurred on February 5, 2003, at the United Nations Security Council, when he pulled out a bottle of white powder and made a name for himself as evidence of Iraq's use of chemical weapons of mass destruction. This counterfeiting incident was later dubbed the "laundry detergent incident."
Success or failure comes from his sleek personality. He comes from the bottom of society, knows how to observe the color of speech, and is especially good at changing his voice to maximize his own interests. This characteristic is both a necessary basis for his success in the military and government, and the reason why he failed to adhere to the original Wymbo-style war concept and resist the unnecessary conflict of the Iraq war when he became secretary of state, thus ultimately destroying his reputation. Worse, perhaps, he played identity politics during the Obama and even Trump era. You know, the old-school Republican concept expressed in his autobiography is that he values personal efforts and never asks about origin and skin color.