De Gaulle was president of the French Fifth Republic, led the "Free France" movement against the aggression of fascist Germany, and was well known to Chinese. On November 9, 1970, de Gaulle died of a sudden heart attack, and on his deathbed, de Gaulle regretted: "I really want to see Mao Zedong!" ”
As a former leader of a Western country, de Gaulle was very surprised to say such a thing on his deathbed. Is there any secret hidden between him and Mao Zedong?
De Gaulle was both a beloved general and leader of the French people and a French leader respected by the Chinese, but de Gaulle's understanding of China was clearly different from other Western countries. De Gaulle repeatedly wrote to his nephew Bernard de Gaulle about China and advised him to go to this country with a unique and profound civilization. In his letter, he also mysteriously told his nephew: "Maybe in the next century, China will become the most powerful country in the world." ”
Is this sentence of de Gaulle familiar to everyone?
That's because more than a hundred years ago, Napoleon, the First Emperor of France, said, "China is a sleeping lion, and once he wakes up, the whole world is shocked." ”
De Gaulle and Napoleon had similar views of China, believing that China had great potential for development, but it was temporarily "asleep" and bullied by the Western powers. Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, China not only drove out the Western powers, but also established a new China and realized national independence. Mao Zedong was able to lead China to achieve national independence and development, and de Gaulle naturally had a sincere admiration for Mao Zedong.
De Gaulle admired the great man of China, and of course had to do with de Gaulle's own experience and everything that happened to France.
During World War II, the German fascists launched an attack on France, which resisted for more than a month before surrendering, and de Gaulle was the deputy secretary of state of the Ministry of Defense and War, responsible for coordinating the operation with the British army, he did not advocate surrender, but continued to resist German aggression.
As a result of its exclusion from the Pétain government, de Gaulle chose to go into exile in England and prepare for the French National Council in Britain, organizing the armed forces, making London an important base for french foreign resistance forces at that time. Many French patriots risked their lives and defected to De Gaulle to serve their country.
Compared with the Surrenderists in France, the "Free France" resistance movement led by de Gaulle was a symbol of France's non-submission to the Nazi forces in Germany and the courage to resist the aggressive rule of the Nazis, and de Gaulle became the national hero of France. It was in the united battle of the anti-fascist forces of the whole world that Germany was finally defeated and France was restored.
Since the opium war in 1840, China has become the target of aggression and division by western powers, and People of insight in China have waged a constant struggle for the future and destiny of the country. Among the many powers, the Japanese fascists are undoubtedly the country with the deepest degree of aggression against China, and under Japan's all-out war of aggression against China, most of China's territory was occupied and controlled by Japan. After a strenuous battle between the World Anti-Fascist League and the Chinese people, they finally drove the Japanese fascists out of China.
In the course of China's resistance to Japanese aggression, the People's Liberation Army under Mao Zedong gradually grew and became an important armed force capable of competing with the Kuomintang army. After that, the People's Liberation Army defeated the Kuomintang army under the leadership of Mao Zedong, liberated all of China, and established New China on October 1, 1949.
China and France had the same experience of resisting fascist aggression, and General de Gaulle's resolute resistance to German aggression inspired us to continue fighting, which also brought the two countries closer. De Gaulle also had sincere admiration for Mao Zedong, who led the Chinese revolution and established the new China.
After the end of World War II, the Iron Curtain of the Cold War gradually opened, and in order to oppose the socialist countries led by the Soviet Union, the Western countries established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization under the leadership of the United States, and France was also the founding member of the organization. In the 1950s, NATO established a military integration organization, with the commander of the US military commanding the NATO army in a unified manner. It is through NATO that the United States has controlled the defense and military power of Europe.
De Gaulle, who had always admired freedom and independence, became president of France in 1959, and he had long been dissatisfied with the United States' use of NATO to control European defense and military power. He once said: "My foreign and defense policy will disappear into a system of alien command, and the commander of the U.S. military stationed near Versailles will exercise military power on behalf of the new world against the old world."
What most angry about de Gaulle was the Suez Canal incident in 1956. At that time, Egyptian President Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, and Britain and France joined forces to retake it. Both the United States and the Soviet Union wanted to win over the Arab countries, so they jointly put pressure on Britain and France to cease fire and withdraw their troops. The attitude of the United States to France's arrogance made de Gaulle very unbearable.
There are also serious differences between the United States and France on the issue of nuclear ownership. The French wanted to have their own nuclear weapons and leave it at their disposal. But the United States did not want France to have the right to control nuclear weapons, and when the US secretary of state, Dulles, on a visit to Paris, advised de Gaulle: "Instead of spending a lot of money on nuclear weapons yourself, we should supply them." U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower made a similar commitment during his visit to France that the United States could give France a nuclear bomb, but it would have to be placed under American supervision.
And that's exactly what de Gaulle objected to, saying that "France does not want a nuclear bomb to be deployed on its own soil unless it has the freedom to dispose of it." We are to take our destiny into our own hands. ”
Therefore, de Gaulle decided that France should have an independent modern military force and withdraw from NATO under the baton of the United States, but still maintain cooperation with Britain and the United States.
At the same time, in foreign policy, France no longer only looks to the United States, and advocates easing relations with the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and China and opening up channels for dialogue. In 1960, de Gaulle invited Khrushchev to visit France, and in 1964 France established diplomatic relations with China despite the opposition of the United States, which marked France's independence in foreign policy. As a result, France also became the first Western power to establish diplomatic relations with China.
As far as China is concerned, after the founding of New China, due to the needs of the international security situation, we turned to the socialist camp headed by the Soviet Union. China's friendship with the Soviet Union, followed by soviet assistance to China, is very important for a country that has been ruined by years of war.
However, the Soviet Union did not only provide assistance to China, but also proposed the establishment of long-wave radio and a combined fleet, which obviously undermined the issue of our national sovereignty, so we rejected the Soviet proposal. As a result, Sino-Soviet relations broke down, and the Soviet Union withdrew experts to aid China and deployed millions of troops on the Sino-Soviet border.
Although France and China are in different camps, France holds high the banner of opposing American hegemony, and China opposes Soviet control over us, and the situation between the two countries is indeed somewhat similar. In order to be able to seek great power status between the United States and the Soviet Union, France also needs to ease relations with China, a worldly populous country, and these factors have prompted China and France to get closer and closer.
After the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France, de Gaulle was eager to visit China and have face-to-face exchanges with Mao Zedong, who was interested in both China's long and ancient civilization and Mao Zedong, the great savior of China.
However, de Gaulle was a better face, and in order to maintain his dignity, he asked the Chinese leader to visit France first, and then he visited China. De Gaulle has sent several invitations to China, but because China is in a special period, it is impossible for the leader to visit France. Since the French ambassador, Manak, was never able to invite the Chinese leader to visit France, de Gaulle did not realize his wish to visit China.
After de Gaulle stepped down as president in April 1969, he lived in seclusion in his former country house. In 1970, the French ambassador, Manak, suggested that de Gaulle visit Beijing and communicate face-to-face with Mao Zedong to fulfill his wishes. Regrettably, however, de Gaulle died of a sudden heart attack on 9 November 1970, ultimately failing to fulfill his wish to visit China. On his deathbed, de Gaulle said regretfully: "I really want to see Mao Zedong!" ”
Both de Gaulle and Mao Zedong were great men of the twentieth century, both of whom had made important contributions to their national and national independence, and both admired each other and wanted to meet each other. However, the creation of people, unfortunately the two failed to achieve their wishes.
After de Gaulle's death, Mao Zedong sent a telegram of condolences to Madame de Gaulle: Upon learning of the unfortunate death of General Charles de Gaulle, I would like to express my sincere condolences and respect to him, the indomitable fighters who opposed fascist aggression and defended the independence of the French nation.
De Gaulle once said to his cabinet: "The fact of China is clearly there, it is a vast country with all the means to open up the future." We don't know how long it will take to develop itself, but one day, China will become a huge political, economic and even military reality. And he wrote to his nephew: "Maybe in the next century, China will become the most powerful country in the world." ”
De Gaulle's prediction of China mirrors napoleon's prediction, which shows that de Gaulle was a visionary Western politician whose predictions were becoming reality.
After more than 40 years of reform and opening up, China is no longer the old China that was slaughtered by others and was poor and backward, and China has made tremendous achievements in economy, military, science and technology, culture and other aspects.
China has become the world's second largest economy, the world's largest manufacturing power and the largest trading power, China's military strength is enough to defend our national security, and China's influence in the world is increasing. According to the current development trend, it will not be difficult for China to become the world's number one power in this century, when de Gaulle's prediction will be fulfilled.