Orphans of the Cold War: America and the Tibetan Struggle for Survival by John KennethKnausReview by: Lucian W. PyeForeign Affairs, Vol. 78, No. 5 (Sep. - Oct., 1999), p. 184Published by: Council on Foreign RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20049510 .

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Recent Books

Asia and the Pacific LUC?AN W. PYE

China Joins the World: Progress and Prospects. EDITED BY ELIZABETH ECONOMY

AND MICHEL OKSENBERG. NewYork

Council on Foreign Relations Press,

1999, 260 pp. $22.50 (paper). The Paradox of Chinas Post-Mao Reforms.

EDITED BY MERLE GOLDMAN AND

RODERICK MACFARQUHAR.

Cambridge: Harvard University Press,

1999, 448 pp. $55.00 (paper, $24.95). These two symposium volumes seek to

explain China from different perspectives? but as with the blind men and the elephant, they provide somewhat different pictures. China Joins the World focuses on China's

international relations, askng what

Western policies might induce China to become a constructive participant in

international institutions and regimes. In general, the authors are

optimistic about socializing China in this direction

and see most Chinese officials as anxious

to become effective international players. In contrast, the Goldman-MacFarquhar volume covers the more

problematic

questions of elite politics and the broad

discontent unleashed by economic reforms.

By confronting the problems fragmenting Chinese society, the authors present a less

optimistic picture than Economy and

Oksenberg, but their account also makes

more understandable the xenophobic

explosion after the nato bombing of

China's Belgrade embassy last spring. In a strange way, the two books'

differences mirror a peculiarity in U.S.

China relations. Both governments seem

anxious to separate domestic developments

from interstate relations. The authors in

the Economy-Oksenberg volume hold out

the hope that this is possible, but Goldman and MacFarquhar's authors provide considerable evidence that it is not.

Orphans of the Cold War: America and the

Tibetan Struggle for Survival, byjohn kenneth KNAUS. NewYork

PublicAffairs, 1999,400 pp. $27.50. From 1951 to 1974, the United States pro vided support to the Tibetan resistance,

largely through the c?a. A cia veteran and

the key case officer for Tibet, Knaus tells in

blow-by-blow detail the complex story of

the operations, from the Colorado training of Tibetan fighters and the air drops of

troops and weapons into Tibet to the U.S.

support of the Dalai Lama in India and

diplomatic maneuvers at the United Na

tions. Knaus is unsparing in his criticism

of the cia's mistakes. As one example, he

cites the air drops that attracted flocks of

Tibetans to the drop spots?but then

tragically backfired after they inadvertently alerted the Chinese where to attack. His

story makes it clear, however, that the cia

did not attempt to stir up a rebellion but

supported an essentially Tibetan initiative.

This moving account of the Tibetans'

valiant efforts to resist the Chinese occupa tion captures the daring spirit of the early

Cold War years and the mixture of idealism

and crafty scheming that characterized

American operations at the time. It also

underscores the limited effectiveness of

such covert operations.

The Sacred Willow: Four Generations in the

Life of a Vietnamese Family,

by duong

van mai elliott. New York Oxford

University Press, 1999, 608 pp. $30.00. In this vivid and personal account, Mai

[184] FOREIGN AFFAIRS -Volume 78 N0.5

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