Humor helps warm diplomacy
By Jerry Burris
Advertiser Editorial Editor
Not that you would have noticed it, but Secretary of State Colin Powell breezed through Honolulu a few days ago en route home from a swing through Asia that took him to Hanoi, Beijing and stops in between.
It was an important trip for Powell and for the U.S. diplomatic effort in Asia. Not only did it signal Asian allies and observers that a high-flag official of the United States considers the region important, it also set an early tone for President Bush's expected visit to China this fall.
The economic and security stakes of having open, friendly and — to use the current diplomatic buzzword — "transparent" relations with governments of the region are impossible to measure. The issues that could hit home for every American range from the trembling economy of Japan to our on-again, off-again relationship with China.
For the most part, the American media coverage of the trip tended to focus on Powell, rather than on Asia and its concerns.
That's understandable. But it was clear that this visit by the American secretary of state was seen as bigger high-stakes news by the Asian media than by the U.S. media.
The biggest substantive headline in the U.S. press out of China, for instance, was the decision by Chinese authorities to edit a television interview with Powell to delete his critical comments about China's human rights record. This was after Chinese officials had agreed to allow the interview to be broadcast unedited.
This was an affront, for sure, and an interesting lesson in Chinese real-politik for the secretary. But it's a good bet that it wasn't the event that will stick in most minds, particularly those who arrive at their impressions by watching television or reading the popular press.
No, the big event from that perspective was Powell's obviously reluctant but apparently successful effort to poke fun at himself during a meeting in Hanoi of the Asia-Pacific Security Forum. It has become a tradition at those meetings to wind up with a gala fancy-dress dinner at which the entertainment is provided by the ministers and other officials. The event has evolved in a Gridiron-style show during which the ministers kid themselves and satirize each other.
Powell was talked into doing a reprise of his favorite song, the old Marty Robbins hit "El Paso," which he used to sing in Vietnam as an Army officer 30 years ago.
Backed by a guitar-playing State Department colleague and a chorus nicknamed the "Unnamed Senior Officials," Powell sang the familiar ballad of death and unrequited love, but with a twist. Instead of the "Felina" of the original song, Powell's new version declared his love for a "Vietnamese girl named Makiko." And who ended up playing that part but Makiko Tanaka, Japan's first female foreign minister. Tanaka helped end the skit by dashing up to the "dying" Powell, to grant him a last kiss on the cheek.
All this was portrayed in some quarters as perhaps beneath the dignity of the top U.S. diplomat.
But diplomacy is ultimately about the personal. In this case, Japan-U.S. diplomacy appears to be off to a pretty good-humored and personal start.
Reach Jerry Burris through letters@honoluluadvertiser.com.
