John W. Morris
Oh, I forgot to mention earlier, the original protocol for the visit to China dealt with
hydropower only. I asked the State Department representative to include "hydropower and
related water purposes,"which gave us a reason to look at navigation. The Corps group stayed
three extra days after the others came home to look at navigation issues.
When I went back in 1985 I was asked to come to Beijing to discuss water transportation. I
was given an invitation to survey water transportation facilities in China. I told them I would
like to do it, but I was no longer a member of the government, I was a private citizen, and they
should work that out with the Corps of Engineers. It never happened to my knowledge. That's
too bad since the Corps seems to have been circumvented, more or less, by either private
enterprise or other government agencies, such as the Bureau [of Reclamation] in the dam-
building arena.
I do think there's a great need for the Corps over there on the transportation side. The
approaches to the harbor at Shanghai need engineering attention. Inland locks, dams, and
channels need to be reviewed and modernized. They need an overall water transportation
system. I think the Corps has a role to play there when the political situation permits, and I
believe the Chinese would like very much to have the Corps of Engineers participate. In May
1993 I was asked by the Chinese embassy here to arrange a meeting with the Chief of
Engineers' people to talk about getting the Corps back into China. Whether it will happen, I
can't say. I do feel that the U.S. government should at least keep the door open so if the right
circumstances develop, the Corps can move in. The Corps' presence would make way for
American business.
I was able to convince the Secretary of Defense's office that the Chinese may not need
American help in engineering and design; they can do that. They didn't really need our help
in construction practices- t h e y ' d rather use their own labor-intensive system. But they really
needed our organization and management techniques. That's why I taught that summer.
My term as Chief was not the only one that dealt with China. I know that General Heiberg
went later with Secretary Dawson.
Q ..
Last time we ended by discussing the program in Russia and the program in China, but those
weren't the only international programs that the Corps had going on when you were Chief of
Engineers. Perhaps we could pick up talking about the program in Saudi Arabia.
A ..
Yes, I believe I covered earlier the philosophy for the international program and setting up the
International Projects Office. The foundation for that idea really was the Saudi program.
Going back to the President Eisenhower days, the Corps worked in Saudi Arabia building an
air terminal in Dhahran under an engineer assistance agreement. Later, when the Saudi
Arabian government found itself with financial resources and the need to modernize its
country, one approach was to re-institute the engineer assistance agreement. Under the
agreement between the Corps of Engineers and the government of Saudi Arabia, in its more
recent form, the Saudi Arabian government could develop a modernization program and
finance it by depositing money in a facility in the United States against which the Corps of
Engineers could charge its expenditures for the Saudi program. The important point is this
major program costing - billion was entirely paid for by Saudi money, not by U.S.
money.
My personal involvement did not materialize significantly until I became Deputy Chief of
Engineers in 1975, and, bythat time, the potential growth of the program was predictable. The
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