In the summer of 1949, the founding of New China was imminent, so what should we do in diplomacy? Many comments were made by those involved in the preparations.
General Zhang Zhizhong's views are very representative and have the highest approval rating.
After the rupture of the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, General Zhang Zhizhong was graciously retained by Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, stayed in Beiping, and participated in the establishment of New China. He was considered a leftist in the Kuomintang and once advocated that the Kuomintang should unite with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in addition to the United States. However, Chiang Kai-shek did not listen. Zhang Zhizhong believes that there are many reasons for the failure of the Kuomintang, and in addition to opposing communism, people's counter-revolution, and not practicing the Three People's Principles, it has also made serious mistakes in its foreign policy -- that is, Chiang Kai-shek has long pursued a pro-American one-sided policy. Therefore, he advocated: In the future, New China should implement a new policy of attaching equal importance to both the Soviet Union and the United States.
On April 8, Mao Zedong invited Zhang Zhizhong to Xiangshan. He asked Zhang Zhizhong:
"You said that the Sumerians and the United States are equally important, how to explain it specifically?"
Zhang said:
"Even if it is pro-US and pro-Soviet, not anti-US and anti-Soviet, in peacetime the United States and the Soviet Union attach equal importance to it, and in wartime goodwill and neutrality." With the pro-US and pro-Soviet policy of attaching equal importance to the United States and the Soviet Union, we should eliminate the antagonism between the United States and the Soviet Union, promote US-Soviet cooperation, and make China a bridge for US-Soviet relations. This is good for China, good for the United States and the Soviet Union, and good for world peace. From a military point of view alone, if China cannot maintain its benign neutrality between the United States and the Soviet Union and unite with the United States against the Soviet Union, then the United States will send troops across the Pacific to China in order to support China, and china will become a burden on the United States. On the other hand, if China were to unite with the Soviet Union to fight against the United States, the Soviet army would also come from Siberia to support China, not only would China become a burden on the Soviet Union, but also put the Soviet Union in an unfavorable situation of two-sided war in Europe and Asia. ”
Therefore, Zhang Zhizhong said: "In Asia, China is in a pivotal position. In today's world, the United States and the Soviet Union are competing for strength, and China plays an important role in the middle and is the object of the two heroes' struggle. Whichever side China invests in, which side has the advantage. We need to make good use of this and cherish it. ”
He even said to Mao Zedong: "Since we advocate peace, since we want to establish diplomatic relations and do business with other countries, we must pay attention to our attitude and not adopt hostile and irritating practices against others." ”
Zhang Zhizhong's point of view seemed very reasonable, but Mao Zedong smiled and said, "Mr. Wen Bai, I am ready to debate this for a hundred years." ”
Mao Zedong disagreed with Zhang Zhizhong.
However, Zhang Zhizhong's idea of attaching equal importance to both The Soviet Union and the United States was supported by Zhang Lan and others. Even Mr. Zhang Lan was keen to publicize the idea of "leaning on both sides of the United States and the Soviet Union."
In this regard, Mao Zedong once said to Elder Zhang: "I am going to write an article specifically to answer you and people who share your views." ”
Soon, Mao Zedong wrote an article called "On the People's Democratic Dictatorship." It says:
"You're one-sided." Exactly. One-sidedness is what Sun Yat-sen's forty-year experience and the twenty-eight years' experience of the Communist Party have taught us, and we know that in order to achieve victory and consolidate victory, we must be one-sided. The accumulation of forty and twenty-eight years of experience Chinese either to the side of imperialism or to the side of socialism, without exception. Riding a wall is not enough, and the third way is not. We oppose the Chiang Kai-shek reactionaries who have fallen to the side of imperialism, and we oppose the illusion of a third way.
Mao Zedong said:
"We need assistance from the British and American governments." At present, this is also a naïve idea. At present, the rulers of Britain and the United States are still imperialists, will they give aid to the people's state? What is the reason why we do business with these countries and assume that they will be willing to lend us money in the future on mutually beneficial terms? This is because the capitalists of these countries want to make money, and the bankers want to earn interest to save themselves of their own crisis, not to help the Chinese. The Communist and Progressive parties of these countries are pushing their governments and us to do business and even establish diplomatic relations, which is goodwill, this is aid, which is not comparable to the behavior of the bourgeoisie in these countries. In his lifetime, Sun Yat-sen appealed to the capitalist countries for assistance countless times, but everything failed and he was ruthlessly attacked. In his lifetime, Sun Yat-sen had only one international aid, and that was the assistance of the Soviet Union. Readers are invited to take a look at Mr. Sun's will, where he earnestly exhorted people not to turn their eyes to the assistance of the imperialist countries, but to "unite the nations of the world that await us with peace." Mr. Sun has experience, he has suffered losses and has been deceived. We need to remember his words and stop being fooled. Internationally, we belong to the anti-imperialist front headed by the Soviet Union, and genuine friendship assistance can only be found on this side, not on the imperialist side.
Mao Zedong explained with history and reality the unreliability of the Anglo-American governments, because they could not "wait for me on an equal footing," not for Sun Yat-sen, for Chiang Kai-shek, and for the future New China.
In response to Mr. Zhang Zhizhong's point of view, Mao Zedong said:
"We're going to do business." Exactly right, business is always going to be done. We oppose only internal and external reactionaries who hinder our business, and we are not against anyone else. We must all know that it is no one else who hinders us from doing business with foreign countries and even from establishing diplomatic relations with foreign countries, but precisely the imperialists and their lackeys, the reactionaries of Chiang Kai-shek. By uniting all the forces at home and abroad to break down the internal and external reactionaries, we will have business to do, and we will be able to establish diplomatic relations with all countries on the basis of equality, mutual benefit and mutual respect for territorial sovereignty.
Mao's "one-sided" policy was deliberate and correct. In this regard, Deng Xiaoping, the leader of the Erye field on the front line, said on July 6:
The purpose of the various tricks of imperialism until the blockade is to force us to obey, and our struggle is to force imperialism to obey. ...... And the experience of more than a month has shown that imperialism is not easy for us. The struggle between the two sides during this period was in fact tentative in nature, until Britain and the United States showed the cards of blockade. The blockade, at present, although it has increased many of our difficulties, is still beneficial to us, and even without the blockade, many of our difficulties cannot be solved. But the blockade has been too long, and it is extremely unfavorable to me. Breaking the blockade, Mao Zedong stressed the rapid military occupation of the two Guangdong, Guichuan, Kangqingning provinces, and tried his best to occupy the coastal islands and Taiwan as soon as possible. At the same time, the one-sidedness of the foreign policy we propose, the sooner it manifests itself in action, the more favorable it is to me (Chairman Mao said, this is the inversion of the initiative, so as not to be passive in the future); The internal policy emphasizes a serious intention of self-reliance, not only calling but also conscientiously proceeding (Chairman Mao said that the main point of view is to raise this issue from the perspective of long-term new democratic construction), and Chairman Mao said that these two points are very good and are in line with the spirit of the Central Committee. In doing so, that is, occupying the whole country, one-sided and self-reliant, we can not only stand on a solid foundation, but also have the possibility of forcing imperialism to follow our example.
Deng Xiaoping proved the correctness of Mao Zedong Thought with his own experience.
Later history has also fully proved that the United States will not die of death, while New China is one-sided, quickly recovers its economy, and relies on the assistance of the Soviet Union to quickly carry out large-scale economic construction, build up new China's own industrial system, have a "solid foundation" through self-reliance, and finally in the 70s "forced imperialism to follow our example" - realized Nixon's visit to China. The book "The Great River To the East: Why They Converge Under the Banner of Mao Zedong" published by the Communist Party History Publishing House recounts the many historical interactions between Mao and Deng and Mao and Deng, as well as their agreement on many major issues in China's revolution and construction, and the book is the company's annual bestseller and is loved by many readers.