Yafeng Xia 161 Union,but he had no aptitude for learning foreign languages.He tried 8 to learn Russia,but with little progress.He went to neither France nor Russia.3 During the rest of his life,Mao attempted to learn English- Mao Zedong even during the very difficult war years in Yan'an.He picked up English again in 1954 and continued for about ten years.According to his pollt- Yafeng Xia ical secretary Lin Ke,in his later life,Mao was able to read English articles with an English-Chinese dictionary,but could speak only a few English words.His knowledge of the outside world was from his voracious reading of a wide range of newspapers-Communist,Nation- alist and from Hong Kong-translated abstracts of all types of news, reports and cables from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,reports from the International Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)Central Committee,civilian and military intelligence agencies, Mao Zedong was born in 1893 into a peasant family in a valley called and from his talks with foreign visitors. Shaoshan,in the province of Hunan,in the heartland of China.In 1910, But Mao developed a true love for maps.As a military strategist,maps Mao entered Dongshan Advanced Elementary School,in neighbouring accompanied Mao throughout his life.During the war years from 1927 Xiangxiang County.It was during his time at Dongshan School that to 1949,Mao ordered his troops to explore and examine the geograph- Mao was first exposed to a wide world of contemporary events.He was ical situation wherever they were.After becoming paramount leader of very interested in history and read widely on Chinese and world his. the People's Republic of China (PRC),Mao's love for maps continued. tory and geography.He read a book called Great Heroes of the World He always had Chinese and world maps around when he was in office, and learned a maze of new names-such as Napoleon,Catherine the travelling or reading.s Great,Wellington,Gladstone,Rousseau,Montesquieu,Washington and Although adopting a communist ideology,Mao and his comrades Lincoln-and their accomplishments.! were determined to rid their country of all the 'national humiliations' Mao was enrolled in No.1 Provincial High School in 1912 in since the 1840s and to restore China to its rightful place in the world Changsha,the provincial capital.Early in October 1911,the Qing of nations.As the historian Chen Jian put it,'Mao's revolutionary dynasty,which had ruled China since 1644 finally collapsed after a programs aimed at reviving China's central position in the world.'6 massive military mutiny in Wuhan,not far from Changsha.The Repub- Experienced in Chinese domestic struggle with the Natlonalists and war- lic of China was founded in 1912.But China's trouble and disorder lords for many years of civil war,Mao vlewed the world through the lens were far from over.In the fall of 1912,Mao conducted an intensive of class struggle.He considered the Chinese revolution as part of the period of private study at the Hunan Provincial Library.Mao had his world proletariat revolution.The foremost thing in international strug- first glimpse of a map of the world hanging on the wall of the library's gle was to identify friends from foes and form a united front against hall.He established a rigorous reading schedule and read widely.Among enemies.The so-called united front strategy in essence is one of Maoist Western social science,he read the Chinese translation of The Wealth class struggle'tactics to solve the problem. of Nations by Adam Smith,On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, Logic by Herbert Spencer and others.2 Like many Chinese youths of his 'Intermediate zone'theory-to form an anti-American generation,Mao longed to be a hero in China's salvation. united front It was common for young Chinese to go abroad to study in the early twentieth century.Many future Chinese communist leaders went to Early in 1946,in anticipation of a possible confrontation between the France,such as Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping,and to the Soviet Union, United States and the Soviet Union,Mao Zedong proposed his theory such as Liu Shaoqi,Wang Jlaxiang and Zhang Wentian.Many of Mao's of the'intermediate zone',stressing that there was a large intermediate friends went to France.In 1920,Mao thought of going to the Soviet zone in addition to the two opposing superpowers-the United States 160
162 Mao Zedong Yafeng Xia 163 and the Soviet Union.In an interview with Anna Louise Strong,a left '..the principal contradictions in today's world are those between the wing American journalist on 6 August 1946,Mao put two large tea cups American people and the American reactionaries,between Britain and on the table to represent the 'US imperialist'and the Soviet Union.Mao the United States,and between China and the United States.'2 As the said the 'US imperialist'wanted war while the Soviet Union opposed historian Michael Sheng has noted,'The essential message conveyed war.He then placed several smaller wine cups encircling the large 'US tea in Mao's intermediate-zone theory was the determination to fight U.S. cup',stating they represented the American people and were opposed to war.?Mao told Strong, imperialism and its "running dog"-the Nationalist government in China,and the formation of an anti-American united front at home and abroad. To start a war,the U.S.reactionaries must first attack the American people.They are already attacking the American people-oppressing the workers and democratic circles in the United States politically and China's place in the US-Soviet Cold War economically and preparing to impose fascism there.The people of After the beginning of the US-Soviet Cold War confrontation and the the United States should stand up and resist the attacks of the U.S. emergence of the two opposing blocs,China adopted the 'lean-to-one- reactionaries....B side'(the side of the Soviet Union)foreign policy and was in the socialist bloc after the success of the Chinese Communist revolution Mao further explained to Strong that if the US reactionaries could sub- in 1949.Mao and the CCP leaders 'immediately proclaimed that rev- due domestic opposition,they would then have to deal with European olutionary China,as a natural ally of the "oppressed peoples"in the capitalist countries.To elaborate his point,Mao placed several smaller intermediate zone,would hold high the banner of anti-imperialism and tea cups,a matchbox and an ashtray in between the two cups represent- anti-colonialism,challenging the United States and other Western impe- ing the United States and the USSR.He explained that the US imperial- rialist/colonial powers'.14 The Truman administration settled on a policy ists could not directly attack the Soviet Union until they had managed of non-recognition of the PRC.As the United States had supported the to control the 'intermediate zone',including China.Mao said,'Here are many capitalist countries and colonial and semi-colonial countries in Chinese Nationalists during the civil war,and Washington refused to cut off relations with the Nationalist government in Taiwan,the CCP Europe,Asia and Latin America.It is impossible for the U.S.reactionar- regarded the United States as a serious threat to the PRC. ies to attack the Soviet Union before it is able to bring these countries In 1949,when the PRC was founded,Mao travelled to Moscow to to their knees."Chen Jian argues that the 'intermediate zone'theory seek a political and military alliance with the Soviet Union.In April 'revealed a powerful tendency toward Chinese ethnocentrism in Mao's 1950,about one month after returning from his trip,in a speech to the and the other CCP leaders'definition of the post-war world situation'. sixth session of the Central People's Government Council,Mao further In Chen's words,'Mao and his comrades contended that whether or claimed that the victory of the Chinese revolution had 'defeated one not the United States would be able to control the intermediate zone enemy,the reactionary forces at home'.But,the chairman reminded his would be determined by the result of the struggles between China and the United States.'0 comrades,'there are still reactionaries in the world,that is,the imperi- alists outside China.'Therefore,China needed friends.With the making Mao viewed the world democratic forces as consisting of three parts: of the Sino-Soviet alliance,Mao emphasized,China's external position the people in the United States,in other capitalist countries,and in colonial and semi-colonial countries.The Soviet Union was the pillar had been strengthened.Mao further declared,'If the imperialists pre- pare to attack us,we already have help.'"s To Mao,it seemed that the of these world democratic forces.In early 1947,Lu Dingyi,the head alliance was a realistic choice he could make in a world of fierce struggle of CCP's propaganda,elaborated on Mao's 'intermediate zone'concept between socialist and capitalist camps. in an important article,published in Renmin ribao,the CCP's mouth- Prior to the founding of the PRC,in late June to August 1949,Liu piece.Lu argued that the post-war confrontation on the world scene Shaoqi,the CCP's second in command,led a high-ranking delega- was between the 'anti democratic force'headed by Washington and the peace-loving and democratic forces'headed by Moscow.Lu stressed, tion to Moscow to prepare for Mao's summit with the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.At one point,Stalin mentioned that 'the centre of the
164 Mao Zedong Yafeng Xia 165 world]revolution has moved from the West to the East,and has now prelude to Sino-American ambassadorial talks,which lasted from 1955 moved to China.'6 Stalin proposed that in the international revolu- to 1970,first in Geneva and then in Warsaw.The PRC then undertook a tionary movement,China and the Soviet Union should each accept conciliatory position by showing willingness to unilaterally release some responsibilities and that there should be a cooperative division of labour detained Americans and to discuss less controversial issues,such as the between them.He hoped that China would take more responsibility for US economic embargo against China and a ban on cultural exchanges. assisting national democratic revolutionary movements in colonial and Subsequently,Beijing expected to draw Washington into serious discus- semi-colonial countries,since the Chinese revolution itself and China's sions over significant issues,including recognizing the PRC's legitimacv revolutionary experience would exercise great influence,and could be resolving the Taiwan issue,and acknowledging China's rightful place in studied and assimilated by these movements.Stalin stated, world affairs.From mid-1956,faced with an uncompromising US atti- tude on substantive issues,the Chinese leaders lost interest in improving Therefore,in the interest of world revolution,let our two countries relations through secret negotiations.Nonetheless,they still maintained divide our labour:You do more work in the East and among colonial this communication channel with the United States.Beijing's use of the and semi-colonial countries,working by way of your positive role suspension of the talks as an excuse to launch the Second Taiwan Straits and influence.We will take on more duties and do more work in the crisis in 1958 did bring the United States back to the negotiating table, West. but failed to change the US negotiating position.20 In launching the 'Great Leap Forward'in 1958,Mao announced that Mao was doubtless elated and confirmed in his belief in the applicability Chinese diplomacy should cast off conservative thinking.Early in the and universality of the Chinese Communist revolutionary experience year,Mao told Marshal Chen Yi,who would soon replace moderate of a violent revolution to seize political power.This might also explain Zhou Enlai as China's new foreign minister,that he had instructed why,against all the dissenting voices from his comrades,Mao decided Chinese diplomats to make contact with American officials during the in the autumn of 1950 to send poorly equipped Chinese People's Geneva Conference.This instruction,however,had not been consis- Volunteers to fight the modern American army in Korea. tent with his usual line of thinking.Now,Mao said,it appeared that After the Korean War,Mao picked up the intermediate zone concept his usual line of thinking had proved to be superior:China should vig- again.Speaking at a CCP Central Committee Politburo enlarged meet- orously struggle against American policies with no attempt to develop ing on 7 July 1954,Mao said,The main purpose of the United States is relations with the US government.21 Chinese policy towards the United to punish the intermediate zone,including the entire area from Japan States should demonstrate that the Chinese people had truly stood up, to Britain,and to make these countries cry.'18 Mao envisioned the entire and the Chinese people would not forget the long history of imperialist area excluding both the United States and the Soviet Union as a possible invasion of China.He further argued that China should take advan- anti-American ally.In a meeting with a visiting delegation of the British tage of US policies of political containment and economic embargo to Labour Party on 24 August 1954,Mao contended that the so-called anti- close its doors and concentrate on self-reliant socialist development.22 communism was not to be taken at face value.Mao opined,'In my view, At an extended Politburo meeting on 16 June 1958,which focused on the United States is making use of anti-communism to serve its other discussing foreign policy,Mao said, purpose-first of all,to occupy the intermediate zone stretching from Japan to Britain.'Mao claimed that the aim of the United States was to I said it was all right to make contact with the American during the occupy those countries in this vast intermediate zone,to bully them, Geneva Conference.In actuality,the Americans were not necessarily to control their economies,to establish military bases on their terri- willing to deal with us.It is to our advantage to be in an impasse with tory.The United States attempted to weaken these countries,including the United States....The United States would have to recognize us in Japan and Germany.Now Mao included Western capitalist countries 101 years.23 and newly independent Afro-Asian nations in the intermediate zone. During the Geneva Conference of 1954,Mao hoped to improve rela- It seemed that Mao was agitated about US policy and decided to take tions with the United States through serious negotiations.This was the the offensive.It was then that Mao resurrected the concept of an
166 Mao Zedong Yafeng Xia 167 'intermediate zone'between the United States and the Soviet Union. independent governments in Africa and Asia,urging them to reject the At the fifteenth Conference of Supreme State Affairs,on 8 September, West.26 Mao claimed that the United States wanted to control four continents: After the fallout of relations with the Soviet Union in the early Latin America,Europe,Africa and Asia.The United States dared not 1960s,China competed for the leadership role with the Soviets in the attack the Soviet Union unless the Soviet Union and China collapsed.24 world revolutionary movement.At a foreign affairs working confer- This was his rationale for continuing the Soviet alliance. ence on 13 November 1962,the Chinese foreign minister,Chen Yi, In the first half of the 1950s,the Sino-Soviet relationship was cor- told his audience,'In today's world,only our Chairman Mao is able dial and the top priority of the PRC's diplomacy.The contacts between to develop Marxism-Leninism.The practice of Chinese revolution fully the two governments were frequent,and bilateral negotiations were proves this.[The Soviet]revisionists could not match our Chairman.' often conducted between top leaders.After Stalin's death,the personal Chen declaimed,'The centre of world revolution has moved to our charisma of the new Soviet leaders was not sufficient to entice and country.'He further claimed that the struggle of world revolutionary lead the international communist movement.The twentieth Congress people with revisionism should be guided not only by Marxism,but of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union(CPSU)in February 1956 Mao Zedong Thought as well.7 But Mao's aspiration to become the leader supported a policy of peaceful coexistence between capitalism and of the third force,replacing the Soviet Union as the leader of world rev- socialism.After the twentieth Congress,Mao became concerned about olution,to struggle agalnst imperialists(the United States),revisionists the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's political views and experiences, (the USSR)and reactionaries(India and Japan),had made little headway believing that the CCP should assert itself to ensure the stability of by the late 1960s. the international communist movement.He cast serious doubt on To stimulate and to lead the revolution of world people,especially Khrushchev's ability to lead the international communist movement people in the Third World countries,remained Mao's final goal and after the outbreak of the Polish-Hungarian crises in October 1956.Mao ideal.When Mao stepped up his left-turn in China's foreign policy in began to regard himself as the potential leader of the sociallst bloc and 1962,he was more active in leading world revolutionary movements. Khrushchev as a transitional figure,25 The Chinese actively supported leftists-Maoists in the international In the 1960s,although Washington believed that the Soviet threat communist movement in an attempt to divide the world into three was still the predominant one,the Third World became a major battle- parts:imperialists headed by the United States,revisionists headed by ground between the great powers.The rise of nationalism as a result of the Soviet Union and Marxists headed by China.The Chinese actively communist infiltration seemed to pose an increasing challenge to the promoted Mao as the leader of world revolution,claiming "Those United States and the Free World'.It was within this area that China who want revolution should come to Beijing...Mao Zedong Thought stood out as the world's leading revolutionary state,threatening not has become the centre of unity for all Marx-Leninists and ldeological only Western democracy but also Moscow's claim to the leadership role weapon of all revolutionary people.28 within the socialist bloc. In September 1965,Renmin ribao published an article on revolution in Since its founding in 1949,the PRC had given high priority to its rela- developing countries,entitled 'Long Live the Victory of People's War!' tions with nationalist and colonial countries in Africa and Asia.Mao in the name of Lin Biao,China's defence minister.It was approved by believed that a strong coalition of countries in Africa and Asia could be Mao Zedong.The article attempted to apply the Maoist strategy in the decisive in Cold War confrontations.China's first effort to assume influ- Chinese revolution to the world scene,arguing that the 'rural areas of ence in these areas came in April 1955,when it attended the Bandung the world'in Asia,Africa and Latin America would eventually conquer Conference of Asian and African states.China's strategy emphasized the 'cities of the world'of the affluent countries of the West,following building political coalitions in Africa and Asia on two different lev- Mao Zedong Thought.Lin called on all the oppressed nations and peoples els.First,China supported 'national liberation struggle'both to force to rise up in a united front struggle against their enemies to win victory out the remaining colonial regimes and to overthrow those indepen- for world revolution.2 dent governments that were most closely allied with the West.Secondly, To implement Mao's radical policy,from 1966 to 1970,the CCP made China attempted to build close cooperative relations with the rest of the extensive contacts with those revolutionary parties and secret groups
168 Mao Zedong Yufeng Xia 169 that were willing to carry out violent revolution.The Chinese gov- Since the Sino-Soviet split,Mao's categorization of the 'intermediate ernment invited their representatives to China,introducing them to zone'had expanded.He began to reassess the changing balance of power Chinese revolutionary experiences,such as the rural area encircling between the two opposing blocs.He started to accept the wording of the cities,setting up a separate regime by force of arms,strategies and "Third World',frequently mixing up the two concepts.For example,on tactics of guerrilla warfare.In addition to providing funds and materi- 28 September 1963,he proposed at the CCP Central Committee work als,the Chinese also established special military institutes for foreign conference,'I think there are two intermediate zones,one is Asia,Africa revolutionarles who secretly came to China to learn tactics of armed and Latin America;the other Europe.'Mao claimed that neither Japan struggle and violent revolution.30 As China could offer very limited nor Canada was satisfied with the United States.He also mentioned economic assistance or advanced military equipment,its effort during that relations between the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries the 1960s and 1970s to shape the Third World into a third force in were tense.3 In January 1964,Mao told a group of Japanese visitors that international politics opposed to both of the two superpowers largely The United States and the Soviet Union own nuclear weapons.They failed. attempt to dominate the whole world.'as He maintained that there were Mao's world revolution ideal meant that he used ideological standards two 'Third Worlds':The first third world refers to Asia,Africa and Latin to interpret state-to-state relations.Thus,the territorial factor in China's America;the second third world refers to a group of highly developed relations with its neighbours was only an appendage to international capitalist countries,even some imperialist countries mainly in Western class struggle.For example,when discussing Sino-Indian border con- Europe.'Mao's two 'Third Worlds'concept evolved from his 'two inter- flicts with the delegation of the Indian Communist Party(ICP)leftists on mediate zones'terminology.Mao even drew a clear distinction between 13 December 1967,Mao indicated that he didn't really want to acquire East European countries and the Soviet Union.He also openly separated the 90,000 square kilometres of disputed land with India.However, China from the Sovlet bloc.Mao said,'There are 13 countries in the because India was an imperialist,feudalist and bureaucratic capitalist socialist bloc.Khrushchev doesn't have majority support.3 government,China had to fight for every inch of the land.China had Mao was not able to clearly distinguish the intermediate zone from been using dilatory tactics in dealing with this issue.Mao claimed that the category of class and revolution.In a conversation with a French Par- If the ICP leftists come to power and establish revolutionary people's liamentary delegation on 30 January 1964,Mao pointed out that there government,China would sign a treaty with them and return all the was similarity between China and France although France believed in land south of the McMahon Line to them.' capitalism,while China was a socialist country.Mao said,'Whether it is a capitalist or socialist country,no matter who wants to control us,we Two intermediate zones-to expand the international united will oppose them...'This is the first time that Mao referred to China as a front Third World country.Mao stated,'Haven't you talked about setting up a "third world"?If the "third world"consists of only France,it won't do. In the 1960s,Mao came to realize there were significant divergences [You should]unite whole Europe...to expand the "third world"from and contradictions among Western countries,for example Great Britain, London,Paris to China and Japan.'37 Besides,Mao gave more attention France and the United States.As part of the united front strategy,Mao to worldwide revolutions driven by revolutionary parties.Thus,during attempted to distinguish those countries from the United States,viewing this period,he usually regarded the 'intermediate zone'as an indirect them as a part of the intermediate zone.32 In a meeting with Yasui Kaoru, ally of anti-imperialist revolution. the chairman of the Japanese Association for the Prevention of Atomic As the concept of the Third World'had a specific implication,Mao and Hydrogen Bombs,in January 1962,Mao stated,The Socialist bloc is used the formulation of the intermediate forces in 1970,declaring 'the one side,the United States is the other...Everybody else belongs to the first intermediate force is the third world'while England,France and intermediate zone.But the nature of these countries in the intermediate Germany and many others are the 'second intermediate force'.38 As he zone is very different.'Mao claimed that most people of former colonial- clearly identified the United States and the Soviet Union as the nations ist powers,such as England,France,Belglum,Holland,West Germany to oppose and struggle against,such a formulation constituted the and Japan,could be'indirect allies of the people'.3 embryonic form of Mao's theory of 'three worlds
170 Mao Zedong Yafeng Xia 171 Opening relations with the United States-to form an were to unite,attacking us from the north,south,east,and west, anti-Soviet alliance what do you think we should do?...Think again.Beyond Japan is the Since 1965,China and the Soviet Union had continually expanded United States.Didn't our ancestors counsel negotiating with faraway their military forces along their shared border.Tensions between the countries while fighting with those that are near? two countries increased further during the Cultural Revolution (start- ing in 1966),and by 1968-69 each side had amassed several hundred Although Li's recollections may not be completely reliable,this episode thousand troops along the border.In early 1968,Sino-Soviet conflict adds context and nuance to Mao's decision for rapprochement with the erupted around Qilixin Island,on the Chinese side of the main chan- United States. nel of the Ussuri River,the prelude to large-scale armed conflicts the The perception of a grave threat from the Soviet Union pushed Mao following year."The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968 to lift existing theoretical restrictlons in order to improve relations with heightened Chinese leaders'concern about Soviet intentions. the Umited States in the early 1970s.US President Richard Nixon's high- When intense armed conflicts between Chinese and Soviet border profle summit meetings in February 1972 with the Chinese leaders, forces broke out in March 1969 on Zhenbao Island (called Damansky in effect,replicated Nixon's national security adviser Henry Kissinger's Island in Russian)near the bank of the Ussuri River,China's security earlier visits to Beijing in July and October 1971.Determined to move situation dramatically worsened.Soon,border conflicts spread to other ahead but firm on the principal issues,the leaders of both sides proved areas as tension increased along the entire length of the border.These worthy negotiating opponents.At the core of the US-China sum- incidents brought China and the Soviet Union to the brink of a major mit diplomacy was the common concern over the Soviet threat.Each military confrontation. side aspired to utilize the other to balance that threat.This was the In mid-May,premier Zhou Enlai,at Mao's behest,asked four veteran beginning of the US-China-Soviet triangular diplomacy during the Cold War. marshals-Chen Yi,Ye Jianying,Xu Xiangqian and Nie Rongzhen-to pay special attention to international affairs.Although the Four Mar- But Mao was not a consistent strategic planner.He was constantly shals'Study Group belleved that the Soviet Union would probably not vacillating between promoting world revolution and seeking a detente wage an all-out war against China,they emphasized the need for Beljing with US'imperialists.Mao was psychologically uncomfortable and hes to be prepared for a worst-case scenario.Chen Yl and Ye Jlanying argued itant when he switched from his hard-line anti-American policy to a that in order for China to be ready for a major confrontation with the more concillatory approach in the early 1970s.This switch was due to Soviet Union,'the card of the United States'should be played.In a Mao's perceived threat from the USSR and the lack of momentum in written report,'Our Views about the Current Situation',completed on the hoped-for world revolution.It seems that China recelved Instant- 17 September,they pointed out that although Moscow was intending to gratification In Its foreign relations from its reconciliation policy with 'wage war against China'and had actually deployed forces for this pur- the United States.Mao,who was accustomed to the strategy of 'defeat- pose,the Soviet Politburo was unable'to reach a final decision'because ing the enemies one by one'[gege jiepol in military and the united of political consideratlons.The marshals proposed that,in addition to front work,was obviously excited.He thus put forth a new concept. waging 'a tit-for-tat struggle against both the United States and the He was thinking of utilizing Sino-American common concern over Soviet Union',China should use 'negotiation as a means of struggle Soviet expansionism to establish a geopolitical complex of countries against them'Perhaps the Sino-American ambassadorial talks should he termed a 'strategic line,which extended from Europe,Turkey,Iran be resumed 'when the timing is proper. and Pakistan,to China,Japan and the United States.This geopolitical According to Mao's physician,Li Zhisui,in the middle of the war scare complex also included many countrles outside the line as well.Mao in August 1969,Mao told Doctor Li, thought that this plan might be able to defeat the Soviet Union as its first objective. During his meeting with Henry Kissinger on 17 February 1973,for the Think about this.We have the Soviet Union to the north and the west,India to the south,and Japan to the east.If all our enemies first time,Mao proposed the plan.Mao said,We were enemies in the past,but now we are frlends.'Not only did the Soviet threat to Europe
Yafeng Xia 173 172 Mao Zedong and Asia exist,but it was also growing.Mao proposed his strategy of Theory of Three Worlds'-to struggle against the two establishing 'a horizontal line [yitiaoxian]-the US-Japan-[China]- superpowers Pakistan-Iran-Turkey and Europe'in order to'deal in common with It was in 1973 that Mao changed the concept from the 'intermediate a bastard [the Soviet Union]'.Mao later proposed the concept of'a big terrain'[yidapian]during a meeting with the Japanese foreign minis- zone'to the theory of "Three Worlds'.During this year,he first accepted ter Masayoshi Ohira in early January 1974,referring to those countries the contemporaneous interpretation,clearly defining the boundary of his concept of the "Third World'.He stated with certainty that the "Third adjacent to the 'horizontal line'.Kissinger was non-committal. Nonetheless,not every one apprectated Mao's decision for World'referred to the developing countries,and China was a develop- rapprochement with the United States.A large number of the world's ing country.This was the first time that Mao clarified China's position in revolutionary parties and leftist groups,including the Albanian lead- the world political structure since the onset of the Soviet-American Cold War and of China's holding high the banner of anti-imperialism and ers,who had been following China's position of countering imperialism and revisionism,raised strongly worded doubts about the reversal of anti-revisionism.This was such a new concept in Chinese political phi- China's policy towards the United States.What irked Mao most was losophy that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent Mao's new instruction that US-Soviet relations improved in spite of his efforts to the contrary. to Chinese envoys overseas. An important precondition for better US-China relations and 'alliance Mao's theory of"Three Worlds'is fundamentally different from the with the United States to deter the Soviets'was Mao's belief that the idea of 'a horizontal line'and 'a big terrain'.He discussed his new think- US-Soviet differences were much greater than their ability to compro- ing on international issues with Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda mise and conspire against China.China was presented with a substantial on 22 February 1974.Mao said,'The United States and the Soviet possibility of 'utilizing the contradiction and defeating them one by Union belong to the First World;the middle elements,such as Japan, one'.However,Nixon's visit to the Soviet Union in May 1972,the Europe,and Canada,belong to the Second World;and we are the Third Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev's return visit to the United States in June World....All Asia except Japan belong to the Third World,all Africa the 1973 and the signing of several treaties greatly improved US-Soviet rela- Third World,all Latin America the Third World.'4 tions.45 This put Mao in an awkward position.The US-Soviet detente To a large extent,the theory of Three Worlds'was a product of confirmed the correctness of the criticism and accusation of the CCP Mao's thinking on the international united front.There are at least from the party of Labour of Albania and other small parties.It seemed two reasons.First,China's standing in the Soviet-American Cold War to prove that Mao's new policy towards the United States was indeed a structure was changing and hard to define;secondly,the practice of world revolution and his understanding of 'imperialists,revisionists blunder. Whether Mao's view of US-Soviet relations was realistic or not,his and reactionaries'as enemies was constantly challenging Mao's crite- strategic design of'alliance with the United States to deter the Soviets', rion for distinguishing international friends from enemies.The reason 'a horizontal line'and 'a big terrain'was not.Mao was disheartened to why this theory didn't coalesce until 1974 was the disintegration of the see the frequency of US-Soviet summits resulting in positive outcomes. China-centred anti-imperialism and anti-revisionism bloc in the wake During Kissinger's sixth visit to China(his first as secretary of state)from of the Sino-American rapprochement.For this reason,it was no longer 10 to 14 November 1973,in a meeting with Kissinger on 12 November, possible to jumpstart the world revolution.Mao also came to realize Mao came to realize that the United States was in a very advantageous that his idea of 'a horizontal line'and 'a great terrain'was unrealis- position and no longer in dire need of the China card after its exit from tic.The most logical thing for him to do was to return to his familiar the Vietnam quagmire.Mao began the conversation by discussing the thinking pattern of the international united front,further utilizing his Soviet threat to China.Kissinger seized the opportunity to emphasize class struggle mode of thinking,emphasizing the oppressing and the a possible Soviet attack on China and declared that the United States oppressed.He thus altered his 'horizontal line'conception,which paid would not allow a violation of China's security.Mao,a man with a less attention to class analysis to the new theory of 'Three Worlds', strong sense of self-respect,felt he was being forced into a defensive which put greater emphasis on class relations.Thus,Mao changed his position.He felt resentful and humiliated.+6 mind from a united front including the United States to counter the
174 Mao Zedong Yafeng Xia 175 Soviets to a united front against both the United States and the Soviet from foes in order to defeat his enemies one by one.In international pol- Union. itics,Mao's thinking and tactics revolved around this familiar pattern. Mao's emphasis on class relations did not have its basis in social rela- He read mainly to confirm his established principles and beliefs.After tions but in state relations.This was the method that allowed him to the Korean War,Mao rarely listened to his senior colleagues.Nor did he relinquish his world revolution ideology.According to the world revo- seek advice from international affairs experts.His mental make-up com- lution analytical model,the class analysis method is to combine social prised three main aspects:his own personal experience (i.e.many years relations with international relations.Now,from the angle of the inter- of brutal war and revolution);Chinese traditional culture and ideas, national united front,it was necessary to distinguish social relations especially the history of political struggles and court intrigues;and lastly from international relations.The criterion was anti-United States and Marxism-Leninism,especially on class struggle and violent revolution.50 anti-Soviet Union-the two superpowers.Thus,the reactionaries of all Mao's mental map on international power politics was changing and countries-that is,those who suppressed communist revolutionaries, adaptive.When he proposed the theory of the 'intermediate zone'in such as prime minister Tun Abdul Razak of Malaysia,and president 1946,which was based on his united front experiences with the Nation- Marien Ngouabi of the Republic of the Congo-became the natural alists and his interpretation of China's national interests,Mao attempted objects to win over against both the United States and Soviet Union. to form an anti-American united front for the purpose of defeating the After the establishment of the theory of 'Three Worlds',it was out of Nationalists in the Chinese civil war.In 1949,seeking an alliance with tune to stress 'revolution'in international politics.In 1974,Mao even- the Soviet Union to offset the US threat to communist rule in China, tually compromised on this position.In a discussion with Zhou and his Mao declared the policy of leaning to the Soviet Union in US-Soviet associates on the international situation,Mao conceded,'Now we may Cold War confrontation.After the breakdown of the Sino-Soviet alliance not mention that the current world tide is revolution.'From then on, in the early 1960s,Mao expanded his 'intermediate zone'theory.He this viewpoint that had been publicized in the Chinese press for more proposed the concept of 'two intermediate zones'to include former than ten years,disappeared.No matter what Mao had in mind,China's colonialist countries such as England,France,West Germany and Japan foreign policy started to move further and further away from the foreign in his international united front,calling it an 'indirect alliance of the policy dominated by revolutionary ideology. people, After the death of Mao in 1976 and the advent of the Deng Xiaoping Mao was neither a great diplomat nor a consistent international strate- era several years later,the theory ofThree Worlds'was no longer rele- gic thinker.He created no miracle in Sino-American relations in his vant.This is mainly because the core of the theory of "Three Worlds'was last years just as he had previously failed to handle Sino-American rela- to create a united front in state-to-state relations among Third World tions successfully.After years of pursuing his doctrine of 'class struggle' governments.The main goal of a united front diplomacy was to protect in international politics,Mao had brought Sino-Soviet relations to the China's national interests.With the disappearance of the world revo- brink of war in 1969.To a great extent,Mao was compelled to adopt tac- lution goal,the anti-hegemony point in the theory of 'Three Worlds' tics to protect China's national security interests.He decided to exploit became superfluous.It is not surprising that the theory of 'Three Worlds' the opportunity presented by Nixon temporarily to relax tension with disappeared from the Chinese media in the Deng Xiaoping era. the United States,which was opportunistic on his side.He did not lessen his nationalistic pride or realize that his doctrine of'class struggle'was Conclusion seriously flawed.As he was so familiar with the doctrine of 'class strug- gle',Mao reverted to his familiar method of united front strategy in Mao never travelled abroad before assuming national power in 1949 order to adjust his policy.When he was obliged to receive the olive and made only two foreign trips during his lifetime-both to Moscow. branch from the American government,formerly the No.I enemy,Mao He had limited knowledge of the outside world,and a narrow vision of was not going to follow the policy of detente in full.He was always future world developments.In domestic politics,Mao believed in the aware of the fundamental differences between China and the United theory of class struggle and relied on violent revolution to win political States.He was also very sensitive to any compromise he had to make power.He also resorted to the united front tactics to distinguish friends with the United States.When he failed to form an anti-Soviet alliance
Yafeny Xia 177 176 Mao Zedong with the United States,Mao felt obligated to propose the so-called the- 7.Xie Lifu,Mao Zedong miandui Meiguo Mao Zedong Facing the United States ory of 'Three Worlds'to distinguish China from the United States and (Beijing,2000),136;Mao Zedong,'Conversation with American Journalist Anna Louise Strong',6 August 1946,in Mao Zedong waijiao wenxuan (Beijing. the Soviet Union in order to maintain China's independent identity in 1995,hereafter cited as MZWW),58-60. the Sino-Soviet-US Cold War structure.Mao aimed to win over 'the 8.Mao,'Conversation with American Journalist Anna Louise Strong,59 reactionaries of all countries'to form an international united front to 9.Regarding this point,see Mao,'Conversation with American Journalist Anna counter the two superpowers.This would also leave leeway for him to Louise Strong'. return to the policy of class revolution at a later time.In Mao's mental 10.Chen Jian,'Bridging Revolution and Decolonization:The "Bandung Dis. course"in China's Early Cold War Experience',The Chinese Historical Review, map,China was always at the centre of the struggles.Mao attempted vol15,no.2(Fall2008),214 to utilize all types of conflict and contradiction to alter the balance of 11.Lu Dingyi,'Explanations of Several Basic Problems Concerning the Postwar power in China's favour in international power politics.s1 International Situation',Renmin ribao [People's Dailyl,4 and 5 January 1947. Mao was recalcitrant and rarely deviated from the doctrines of class Mao revised and approved the article before its publication. analysis and class struggle in understanding and interpreting interna- 12.Ibid.Also see Chen,'Bridging Revolution and Decolonization',213. 13.Michael M.Sheng,Battling Western Imperialism:Mao,Stalin,and the United tional power relations and world politics.Although Mao never over- States (Princeton,1997),153. emphasized China's role in the US-Soviet Cold War structure,it was 14.Chen,Mao's China and the Cold War,5. his so-called 'principle of strength'which prompted his decision to 15.'Mao Zedong's address to the Sixth Session of the Central People's Govern- adjust China's diplomatic tactics.Mao's natural inclination was towards ment Council',11 April 1950,in Jiangguo yilai Mao Zedong wengao [Mao rebellion and worldwide revolution.When he believed that China was Zedong's Manuscript since the Founding of the PRC,hereafter cited as /YMZW](Beijing,1987),1:291. powerful enough,Mao would adhere to the doctrine of class struggle 16.Jin Chongji,chief ed.Liu Shaogi zhuan [A Biography of Liu Shaogi](Beijing. and supporting world revolution.When he came to realize that China 1998).651. was in a disadvantageous power position in international power strug- 17.'Liu Shaogi to the CCP CC Secretariat',27 June 1949,in Shi Zhe,Zai lishi gle,Mao would move away from class revolution and make an effort juren shenbian [Together with Historical Giants:Shi Zhe Memolrs](Beijing. to establish a united front in order to protect China's strength.But in 1991),414-15;Ivan Kovalev,'Dialog Stalin s Mao Tszdunom'[Stalin's Dia- Mao's mental map,there was a focal point:China was the model for the logue with Mao Zedongl,Problemy dal'nego vostoka [Far East Affairs],vol.21, n0.1-3(1992).78-79 liberation of all the oppressed nations and peoples of the world. 18.Speech,Mao Zedong,'To Unite and Cooperate with All Countries Willing to Live Peacefully',7 July 1954,Mao Zedong wenji [A Collection of Mao Zedong's Notes Papers](Beijing,1999),6:334. 19. Speech,Mao Zedong,'On Intermediate Zone,Peaceful Coexistence,and 1.Pang Xianzhi,chief ed.Mao Zedong nianpu,1893-1949 [Chronology of Mao Sino-British and Sino-American Relations',in MZWW,159-60. Zedong,hereafter cited as MNP],3 vols.(Beijing,1993),1:8-9;Jonathan 20.For a detalled discussion of Sino-American ambassadorial talks,see Yafeng Spence,Mao Zedong (New York,1999),8-9. Xia,Negotiating with the Enemy:U.S.-China Talks during the Cold War,1949- 2.MNP,1:13;Spence,Mao Zedong,20-21;Ling Shen,'Mao Zedong yu ditu de 1972 (Bloomington,2006),chapters 4 and 5. gushi'[Mao Zedong and Maps],Ditu (Mapl,vol.26,no.4 (2005),87 21.Quoted in Chen Yi,'Zai waijiaobu dangzu wuxuhui shang de fayan'[Speech 3.MNP.1:36-38 at a General Meeting of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Foreign 4.From 1954 to 1966,Lin Ke served as Mao's political secretary on interna- Affairs],17 June 1953,cited in Jiang Changbin and Robert Ross eds,Cong tional issues.One of his tasks was to teach Mao English.For details,see duizhi zouxiang huanhe-Lengzhan shiqi de ZhongMei guanxi zai tantao (From Lin Ke,'Yi Mao Zedong xue yingyu'[A Recollection on How Mao Zedong Confrontation to Detente:Re-examining Sino-American Relations during Learned English],In Gong Yuzi,et al.,Mao Zedong de dushu shenghe [Stories the Cold War](Beijing,2000),181,193 fn.30 on How Mao Zedong Read Books)(Beijing,1986),248-62;Also see He Di, 22.Guoil Zhanlue Xuehui.comp.Huangiu tongci liangre-Yidal lingxiu de guoli 'The Most Respected Enemy:Mao Zedong's Perception of the United States' zhaniue sixiang [It is the Same Temperature around the Globe:The Interna- in Michael Hunt and Niu Jun eds,Toward a History of Chinese Commnu- tional Strateglc Thinking of a Generation of Chinese Leaders](Beiiing,1993) nist Foreign Relations,1920s-1960s:Personalities and Interpretive Approaches 266-b7. (Washington,DC,1995),51. 23.Transcript of Mao Zedong's Talk on International Situation,16 June 1958 5.Ling,'Mao Zedong yu ditu de gushi',87-88. cited in Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji,chief eds,Mao Zedong zhian 6.Chen Jian,Mao's China and the Cold War (Chapel Hill,2001),12. [A Biography of Mao Zedong.1949-19761 (Beijing,2003),1:851
178 Mao Zedong Yafeng Xia 179 24.Mao Zedong,'Talking about International Situation at the 15th Conference 43.For details,see Kuisong Yang and Yafeng Xia,'Vacillating between Revo- of Supreme State Affairs',8 September 1958,in MZWW,350. lution and Detente:Mao's Changing Psyche and Policy toward the U.S. 25.For detailed analysis,see Zhihua Shen and Yafeng Xia,Hidden Currents 1969-1976',Diplomatic History,vol.34,no.2 (April 2010),395-423. during the Honeymoon-Mao Zedong,Khrushchev and the 1957 Moscow 44.William Burt,The Kissinger Transcripts:The Top Secret Talks with Beijing and Conference',Journal of Cold War Studies,vol.11,no.4 (Fall 2009),74-117. Moscow (New York,1998),83-101;Gong Li,Deng Xiaoping yu Meiguo [Deng 26.Peter Van Ness,'China and the Third World:Patterns of Engagement and Xiaoping and the United States](Beijing,2004),104-09.In the published Indifference',in Samuel S.Kim ed.China and the World:Chinese Foreign Policy minutes in English,which had been supplied by the Chinese,there is no Faces the New Millennium (Boulder,1998),151-70. mention of'China',but the word is in the Chinese record. 27.Chen Yi's Speech at Foreign Affairs'Conference,13 November 1962, 45.Gao Wengian,Wannian Zhou Enlai [Zhou Enlal's Later Years](Hong Kong. Guangxi Autonomous Region Archives,1/31/164,195,203,204,212 2003),286. 28.Relaying Points for the Sixth National Foreign Affairs Conference,February 46.Burt,The Kissinger Transcripts,183-84;Pang and Jin,chief eds,Mao Zedong 1963,Changchun Municipal Archives,1/1-16/53,18,19,21;Kang Sheng's 2huam,2:1669-70. Speech,8 November 1962,Jilin Provincial Archives,50/1-18/148,65,88. 47.See Wang Youping huiyilu,author's personal collection 29.Renmin ribao,3 September 1965. 48.'Mao Zedong on the Division of Three Worlds',22 February 1974,in MZWW, 30.For details,see Cheng Yinghong,'Exporting Revolution to the World-A Pre. 600-01.For an English article on the theory of 'three worlds',see Herbert liminary Analysis of the Effect of the "Cultural Revolution"on Asia,Africa S.Yee,'The Three World Theory and Post-Mao China's Global Strategy', and Latin America',Dangdai Zhongguo yanjiu [Contemporary China Studyl, International Affairs,vol.59,no.2 (spring 1983),239-49. vol.13,n0.3(2006).75-89 49.Cited from Xu Dashen,chief ed.Zhonghua renmin gongheguo shilu [A Fac- 31.'Minutes of Mao Zedong's Conversation with the ICP Leftists'Study Delega- tual Record of the People's Republic of China (Changchun,1994),vol.3, tion',13 December 1967,author's personal collection. 1159-60. 32.For Western Scholarship on Mao's intermediate zone thesis,also see John 50.He,"The Most Respected Enemy',51-52. Gittings,The World and China,1922-1972 (New York,1974),144-45,218-19, 51.For this point,see ibid.,53. 232-34,261-64;J.D.Armstrong,Revolutionary Diplomacy:Chinese Foreign Policy and the United Front Doctrine (Berkeley,1977),88-89. 33.Mao Zedong,'The Nature of Those Countries in the Intermediate Zone is Very Different',3 January 1962,in MZWW,487. 34.Mao Zedong,There are Two Intermediate Zones',28 September 1963,in M2WW,506-07. 35.Mao Zedong,Minutes of Conversation with Japanese Communist Delega- tion',5 January 1964,in MZWW,507-08. 36.'Mao Zedong's Conversations with Anna Louise Strong,Frank Coe,Solomon Adler,Israel Epstein,Sidney Rittenberg',17 January 1964,in MZWW, 514-15. 37.Mao Zedong,'Similarities between China and France',in MZWW,520-22. 38.'Mao Zedong's Conversation with the Burmese Communist Party Vice Chair- man Thakin Ba Thein Tin',1 October 1970,China's Central Archives,Beijing, China. 39.Yang Kuisong,'From the Battle at the Zhenbao Island to Sino-American Rapprochement',Dangshi yanjiu ziliao [Materials on Party History Research vol.19,no.12 (1997),7-8;and Xu Yan,'The Sino-Soviet Border Conflict of 1969',Dangshi yanjiu ziliao,vol.16,no.5 (1994),6-10. 40.See Yafeng Xia,'China's Elite Politics and Sino-American Rapprochement, January 1969-February 1972',Joumal of Cold War Studies,vol.8,no.4(Fall 2006),6. 41.Xiong Xianghui,Wo de Qingbao yu Waijiao Shengya [My Career in Intelllgence and Diplomacy (Beijing,1999),184-86. 42.Li Zhisui,The Private Life of Chairman Mao (New York,1994),514