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Deng Xiaoping was asked why he had been the second-in-command, and he calmly said nine words, which immediately made the people present admire.
In 1980, when the Italian journalist Fallaci was interviewing Deng Xiaoping, he suddenly asked this somewhat sharp question:
"Why do you always be the second-in-command of such a capable person?"
However, after listening to Deng Xiaoping's answer, Farage gave Deng Xiaoping a great evaluation, saying that he rarely found that there was such a wise leader as Deng Xiaoping!
So, how did Deng Gong respond to this question?
Interview with Farage
Since the beginning of China's reform and opening up, it has always been the subject of much discussion in the world of capital.
The capital countries led by the United States and the West have not been less vocal about China, and even said that China is following in the footsteps of Khrushchev on its own!
Therefore, Deng Xiaoping, as the chief architect of reform and opening up, naturally became the target of public criticism, and many people were very curious about what he thought and what he wanted to do? Why did he make an extremely left-leaning China suddenly "turn to the right"?
Farage, a well-known journalist from Italy, also had a strong interest in China's reform and opening up and Deng Xiaoping, so in order to let the world get first-hand information about China, she decisively offered to conduct an exclusive interview with Deng Xiaoping.
We in China also felt that this was a good opportunity to introduce our reform and opening up line to the world, so we hit it off with Farage and immediately finalized the interview time.
You must know that Farage is known as the "mother of international political interviews", and has interviewed a large number of internationally renowned political figures, including Kissinger, Sihanouk, and Kennedy, and she has also written a book to write her impressions of these political figures mercilessly and truthfully.
Her interview style is also notoriously sharp, spicy, sharp, and even aggressive, especially bomb-like questions, which often embarrass many dignitaries.
However, even so, Farage was never impressed by the authority of any political figure, and even often challenged it, and was full of rebellion.
For example, when she learned that the religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini had asked her to wear a veil in order to agree to the interview, she walked up to Khomeini with a veil on, and then immediately removed the veil in front of Khomeini!
So at the beginning, Deng Gong's staff were still quite worried about this, and asked Shi Yanhua, who was in charge of translation at that time, to try to slow down the translation when Farage asked some words that were too outrageous.
But Shi Yanhua has worked beside Deng Gong for so many years, and has long understood Deng Gong's personality, in fact, he prefers the kind of-for-tat and straightforward questions, not only will not be easily offended or embarrassed, but hopes to stimulate his thinking through this kind of difficult question, so as to inspire him to say what he wants to say.
Therefore, Shi Yanhua saw that the atmosphere of the exchange between the two was still very good, so he boldly translated it faithfully.
In order to make a good impression on Deng Xiaoping, Farage congratulated Deng Xiaoping on his happy birthday as soon as they met, because the next day happened to be Deng Xiaoping's birthday.
When Deng Xiaoping heard this, he also responded humorously: "Tomorrow is actually my birthday? ”
Farage hurriedly explained that he learned about Deng Xiaoping's birthday from his biography, which showed that he had prepared and attached importance to this interview.
Deng Gong also teased in a cheerful tone:
"I don't need to congratulate anything, I'm seventy-six years old, and I've reached the age of decline. ”
Farage hurriedly said politely: "My father is also seventy-six years old!"
So the topic slowly unfolded in a relaxed atmosphere, but without chatting for a few words, Farage couldn't help but start a tense confrontation, and pointed the finger at Chairman Mao as soon as he came up!
I only heard her ask: "A few years ago, you could see the portrait of Chairman Mao everywhere in Beijing, but today I went all the way from the hotel here, but I only saw one, so will you keep the portrait of Chairman Mao in Tiananmen Square forever in the future?"
This question is more or less unkind, and it is obvious that they want to torture China whether they will follow the old path of Khrushchev's "de-Stalinization."
And Deng Gong naturally understood Farage's intention to ask, and immediately replied without hesitation:
Sharp questions
Hanging too many portraits of Chairman Mao does not equate respect for Chairman Mao. What is certain, however, is that in the future, we will not only hang the portrait of Chairman Mao in front of Tiananmen Square forever, but also commemorate Chairman Mao as the founder of our party and country, and continue to uphold Mao Zedong Thought!"
Deng Gong's categorical answer is obviously far beyond Farage's impression, because it is not difficult to see that China has no intention of following the same revisionist path as the Soviet Union in the past.
Not only that, Deng Gong's move is tantamount to conveying an important message to the world, that is, the Communist Party of China will never completely deny Chairman Mao!
However, judging from Farage's liberal stance, she must have supported revisionism, so she naturally felt a little puzzled by Deng Gong's practice of retaining Chairman Mao's thoughts.
So Farage led the topic to a question that many Western politicians, including her, were curious about:
"I have a sentence, I hope you don't get angry when you hear it, because this sentence is not what I said, but what many people in the West say, saying that you are China's Khrushchev and Chairman Mao is China's Stalin, I don't know what you think?"
When Deng Gong heard this, he shook his head with a helpless smile, and said generously:
"It doesn't matter what they call me, but I know Khrushchev very well, I have personally dealt with him for ten years, and I know him very well, so it is actually very stupid to compare me to Khrushchev. The most obvious difference is that I will never treat Chairman Mao the way Khrushchev treated Stalin!"
Subsequently, Deng Gong summarized all the bad things Khrushchev had done to China, but he also knew that these examples would not necessarily convince Farage, and there was no point in continuing to argue, so he only said tolerantly:
"It seems that we can't agree on this issue, so if you keep your point of view, I will keep my point of view. ”
Farage was also surprised by Deng Xiaoping's generosity, because according to her previous experience, in such cases, the other party was usually anxious, but Deng Xiaoping appeared quite calm, which is rare.
Farage, although she did not continue to mention Khrushchev, was still puzzled about where reform and opening up would lead China, so she asked Deng Gong if he agreed that capitalism was not all bad.
Deng Gong is also quite cautious in his approach to this problem, because this problem is actually a buried pit, and if he is not careful, he may be used by people with good intentions to make a fuss, slandering China's reform and opening up, and "embracing" capitalism.
So Deng Gong replied clearly: "There are some advanced and superior things, which cannot be said to be exclusive to capitalism. ”
For example, advanced technology and advanced production management methods, these things have no class nature, any country can learn to improve its own productivity, and a prerequisite for realizing communism is that the productive forces are strong enough!
To put it bluntly, reform and opening up is aimed at absorbing the world's advanced technology and production management methods to enhance our own productive forces and arouse the people's enthusiasm for production.
Hearing this, Farage has been impressed by Deng Gong's wisdom and talent, and in this state of mind of increasing admiration for Deng Xiaoping, Farage actually asked in a slightly uneven tone for Deng Gong:
"Mr. Deng, why is a person as good as you always in the position of second-in-command?"
As soon as these words came out, everyone immediately sweated, feeling that such a question was a little offensive to Deng Gong.
However, Deng Gong didn't feel anything, but replied lightly:
"The second in command didn't stop me from playing, I was still able to play. ”
The implication of Deng Gong is that he doesn't care about his status, as long as his status can be convenient for him and better contribute to the country, it is enough.
Why second-tier?
Not only that, Deng Gong also further revealed that in order to take the lead in breaking the lifelong cadre system, he is about to take a back seat, so that younger talents can serve as national leaders and inject fresher blood into the country.
This kind of answer made Farage see from Deng Gong that he was completely different from most other national leaders, most of the other national leaders were very dictatorial, for fear of giving up their positions to others, but Deng Gong was willing to give more people opportunities, which is quite commendable.
As the conversation came to an end, seeing that Farage was reluctant, Deng Gong humorously quipped, "How is it?
Farage exclaimed, "It's just wonderful!"
Then she asked Deng Gong rhetorically, how to score herself?
Deng Gong replied calmly:
"It's good to be able to open it in half for my own words, but one thing is for sure, and that is that I have a clear conscience all my life. ”
Then he instructed Farage to make sure to write down what he said next:
"I myself have made a lot of mistakes, including the mistakes made by Comrade Chairman Mao, and I also have a share, but it can be said that I have done bad things with good intentions, and there is no one in this world who does not make mistakes. ”
As soon as these words fell, everyone present, including Farage, was even more in awe of Deng Gong and was impressed by Deng Gong's open-mindedness.
At the end of this interview, Farage made an extremely astonishing high evaluation of Deng Xiaoping, and the two sides were full of frankness and frankness in the exchange of ideas, which made Farage have a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of China's new path and the second generation of leaders for the first time.
She enthused:
"Deng Gong is like my father, he can tolerate no matter what kind of questions I ask, not to mention that he is so humorous and kind! He is worthy of being a great man in the world, he always knows all the questions well, and he answers every question brilliantly, I really like him! Among the world leaders I have interviewed, there has never been a person who has been able to discuss historical issues in a frank and in-depth manner like Deng Xiaoping. ”
In fact, Deng Gong once gave a clearer explanation to the question asked by Farage why he was willing to be the second-in-command.
While putting things right in order, Deng Gong quickly noticed that in addition to the problems in the previous political and ideological line, our party also had the problem of serious aging of the cadre ranks, and most of the leading decision-making levels were old people in their seventies and eighties, and because of old age, their energy was already seriously insufficient, and they were unable to do many things.
However, if the old people occupy their positions, it will not be easy for the young cadres to come up, and the operational efficiency of the entire leadership group will not be improved.
Deng Gong once vividly compared that this is the old man and the sick who are blocking the way of the young, energetic and capable people, and in the long run, not only will there be no hope for realizing the four modernizations, but it is even possible to destroy the party and the country.
Therefore, in order to make the cadre system possible to replace the old with the new and spit out the old and accept the new, Deng Gong also specially established a retirement system that had not been done before.
Before this, cadres were basically lifelong, and they could even inherit their father's business after they finished their work, and Deng Gong's move undoubtedly broke the previous routine and was extremely groundbreaking.
For those who have enjoyed the vested benefits of the cadre tenure system, it is not an easy thing to suddenly give up the position they have sat in for so many years, so Deng Gong decided to lead by example and take the lead in retirement.
For this reason, when Chairman Hua resigned in 1981, and even some foreign leaders inside and outside the party unanimously demanded that Deng Gong take up the chairmanship, Deng Gong still chose to reject the public opinion and categorically refused, and recommended young and talented comrades to preside over the work of leading the party and the country.
Looking back at history now, we have to admire Deng Gong's foresight, and it is precisely because of his series of creative reform measures that China has since embarked on the road of socialism with special characteristics, completely shaken off the backwardness and poverty of the past, and become more and more prosperous and powerful.