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Chapter 18 Everything but the Quack Leaving Wellington, Air Force 2 made a grueling thirteen-and-a-half-hour passage to Hangzhou, China, with refueling stops in Sydney and Darwin. Wednesday, 5 May 1982 Around : p.m., AF approached Hangzhou in the rain. We could see very few lights and nothing that looked like an airport. Suddenly the plane accelerated and raised its landing gear to come around and make another pass. We later learned that the airport hadn’t switched on the runway lights! The second try was a success, except that the pilot braked so rapidly that loose items in the cabin crashed to the deck. A steady rain was falling as we disembarked to meet US ambassador Art Hummel and the smiling and mostly elderly officials of Zhejiang province. GB went into the terminal to read a short statement and answer a few questions from the US press. Then we took off in a long, slow-moving motorcade , headlights on lowest beam. The scene was dreamlike: landing in coastal China in the rain and traveling slowly through groves of trees into and out of a dim central city and across a long causeway. On the other side was an island thickly grown with old trees and featuring some fanciful old-style buildings, all of which we saw through a veil of rain and mist. A teahouse-like structure appeared, flashing neon signs that said WELCOME and CAFÉ. It was pure Somerset Maugham. Chris Buckley would have loved it, except he detached in Wellington to return to the US to do book promotions. Finally the cars stopped on a narrow bridge. We got out and walked the short distance to Guesthouse Number , where the official party is staying. We found our rooms down several corridors in the somewhat faded but stillgracious lodging.The only copy machine available to us is aboard AF, so there are no schedules or room assignments with telephone numbers, as in every stop we make. Still, no one complained: We have arrived in China, and it’s time for bed—almost : a.m. in Wellington, New Zealand, far below the equator. everything but the quack 173 Thursday, 6 May 1982 At : there was a major skull session in VP Bush’s office, just off the bedroom at the entrance to the guesthouse. Out the picture windows was Hangzhou ’s Inner Lake, separated from West Lake by an old green causeway. To discourage anyone from recording the conversation, GB played what he called a “burble,” a tape of radio static. Sitting in my armchair by the wall, however, I could hear everyone perfectly. The WHCA folk later told me that burbles won’t foil electronic eavesdropping, and Ambassador Hummel said that if the Chinese heard what was discussed, it would be helpful. As with yesterday’s airborne conference, this one began with GB worried about his encounters-to-be in Beijing and ended with everyone excited and optimistic. Later we boarded launches for a tour of the famous West Lake, which so entranced Marco Polo on his visit here in the thirteenth century. When we docked at the ancient artificial Island of Little Oceans (from which one sees the Impressions of the Moon above Three Deep Pools ), a member of the traveling press asked the VP if there would be an arrival statement. GB deliberately chose the occasion of tonight’s dinner given by the governor of Zhejiang province to read a carefully prepared statement that made clear the Reagan Administration supports a “one China” policy and believes Taiwan is a part of China. He had two audiences more important than those gathered in the Hangzhou Hotel tonight. One was the American and international viewing public, which has been led to believe that RR is backing away from the Shanghai Communiqué of  and the  agreement to normalize Sino-American relations. The other, more important, audience are the leaders in Beijing, who might be inclined to lambaste the VP for what they think is a tendency toward a “two Chinas: one China, one Taiwan” policy. If so, they ought to have gotten the message tonight. Friday, 7 May 1982 At the airport we shook hands with provincial and city officials and boarded AF for the two-hour flight to Beijing. The Chinese originally wanted the VP to fly aboard one of their planes, but we stood firm. Thus, AF got us and CAAC [the Chinese national carrier] got the press. As...

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