In the history of New China, there seems to be no darker year than 1976.
At the beginning of the new year, the tragic news of Premier Zhou's death shook the world, leaving China's diplomacy without an extremely important decision-maker. Chairman Mao had to drag his seriously ill body to receive foreign guests who were of great significance to China's international situation.
In February 1976, without Premier Zhou, Chairman Mao insisted on meeting with former U.S. President Richard Nixon, and his weak health made the old friend sigh with a heavy heart: "No one can deny that he fought to the last breath." But he could not help but admit that Chairman Mao's thinking was still extremely sharp and active.
By the time he met with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew on May 12, Chairman Mao's own wishes or not, his health had not allowed him to make any more lengthy speeches, and the entire talks ended in a few hurried sentences.
Even at this time, there was another guest who made Chairman Mao agree to the request for a meeting again half a month later, despite his illness and infirmity, because the other party was also from a friendly country of great importance to China, and this meeting also became the curtain call of Chairman Mao's diplomatic activities.
<h1>Old friend's wish</h1>
On May 26, 1976, the city of Beijing, shortly after the removal of Lee Kuan Yew, welcomed a foreign prime minister, and as a matter of practice, he made a request to meet chairman Mao.
Sadly, this strong body, which once hit the water in the Xiang River and the Yangtze River and climbed the mountain by the West Lake, is now tired and sick.
When Chairman Mao was unable to conceal his inability to meet with Lee Kuan Yew, the whole meeting had to be terminated after only a few minutes, and there is no doubt that at this time Chairman Mao was in urgent need of recuperation and pranayama and concentrated on treating his illness, for which the secretaries had repeatedly rejected requests from other foreign heads of state to meet.
But the prime minister who came today is very unusual, his name is Ali Bhutto, from China's friendly neighbor Pakistan. In 1963, the China-Pakistan boundary agreement on the return of the Karakoram Corridor and the laying the foundation for friendly exchanges between the two countries was signed with Foreign Minister Chen Yi, China's plenipotentiary, under his plenipotentiary for Pakistan.
Since his first visit to China in 1971 as President of Pakistan and his delegation, and then as Prime Minister after the amendment of the Constitution in 1974, he has received the Chairman on both occasions, and this is his third visit to China as head of government.
As a result, Bhutto played an important role in the development of Sino-Pakistani friendly relations, and has met and held talks with leaders at all levels in our country on many occasions, which belongs to the Old Friends of the Chinese Government and Chairman Mao himself, and Bhutto himself also had a very pleasant and beautiful experience in the previous talks with the Chairman.
In the direction of South Asia, Pakistan was not only able to contain India's territorial ambitions towards China, but also played a key intermediary role in the Sino-US peace talks in previous years, and even more resolutely supported China's legitimate rights and interests in the UNITED Nations General Assembly, so this time the secretary finally conveyed Bhutto's request to Chairman Mao.
<h1>Chairman Mao who "did not make much achievements"</h1>
Chairman Mao, who had received the request, immediately made the decision to agree, and he had just taken sleeping pills—insomnia had long been a serious problem that had plagued Chairman Mao due to his irregular habits of work and rest for many years. In his later years, when he was gradually weakening, ensuring Chairman Mao's sleep became almost an important political task for the guards and secretaries.
If it were not for Bhutto's important role, the secretaries would not have allowed Chairman Mao to take such a risk to meet guests.
Under the intense and careful care of the staff and medical staff, chairman Mao and Bhutto's meeting was arranged in the same room where Nixon and Lee Kuan Yew had come, and Chairman Mao sat down again on the light green sofa cushion, waiting for Bhutto and his wife.
Bhutto, who walked into the room accompanied by Hua Guofeng, saw the scene opposite the great man who had generously increased his assistance to Pakistan from 300 million yuan to 500 million yuan, but now he was trapped in the sofa and could not get up to welcome his old friend.
The sympathetic Bhutto hurriedly stepped forward and shook Chairman Mao's big hand in greeting. During the talks, Chairman Mao's head was always leaning back on the sofa, and this old man who had fought all his life was using his remaining vitality to complete the last political task for the country.
Bhutto's posture is solemn, his hands are on his lap, since he was the foreign minister in the government of Ayyub Khan and fully promoted China-Pakistan relations, under the decision of the old man opposite, China has repeatedly helped Pakistan in life and death, and he has benefited a lot from his philosophy and ideas. Unfortunately, even such a great figure is about to reach the limit of nature, and time has not allowed himself to ask him in depth about the relationship between the two countries as usual.
The two sides can only have a simple courtesy greeting. Chairman Mao asked Bhutto, "How are you?" Bhutto replied, "I'm fine, thank you." Chairman Mao was very calm about his illness and said: "I am not very good, my legs are not very good, and my speech is not good." Bhutto went on to exclaim: "The Chairman has created a great history, and you hold high the banner of the struggle of the people's revolution. "
Bhutto's statement is by no means an ordinary compliment, and in the 1960s and 1970s, from Japan to Latin America to Africa, there were workers' movements and guerrilla wars guided by Chairman Mao's ideas, including India, the common enemy of China and Pakistan, and the birth of Maoist Communist Forces.
Even President Nixon, the hegemon of the capitalist camp that Pakistan once painstakingly wanted to cling to, did not hesitate to go to Beijing and submit to Chairman Mao's diplomatic skills, and Pakistan, as a bridge of communication between China and the United States, has thus become a key role in changing world history.
Chairman Mao still said with a modest smile of Chinese: "Not much has been achieved. "
Next, Bhutto briefly introduced the current situation in Pakistan, and did not forget to thank China for its special role: "China's friendly assistance to our country has enabled us to make great progress. Although Western imperialism and hegemonism have put great pressure on us, with China's support, the pressure has been reduced. "
The talks lasted only about 10 minutes, Chairman Mao's forehead was already sweating, although there was no moaning or complaining, and the confidential secretary Zhang Yufeng knew that the old man was already very uncomfortable. With regard to the next issues such as specific diplomatic coordination between the two countries and the analysis of the international situation, Chairman Mao could only point his finger at Hua Guofeng on the side: "You should talk about these issues." "
Bhutto saw Chairman Mao's difficult situation clearly, and he felt very honored about the deep friendship and special relationship between China and Pakistan behind this reception, so he got up and shook hands with the chairman on the sofa to say goodbye: "Thank you very much Chairman." "And wish the Chairman a speedy recovery."
Pakistan and China then held a series of friendly negotiations, and on the 30th, Bhutto returned to Islamabad with fruitful results such as the joint communiqué between the two sides, the agreement on scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries, and the economic and technical cooperation agreement.
Perhaps Bhutto could have predicted that after his meeting with Chairman Mao, the Chinese government issued a proclamation announcing that Chairman Mao would no longer participate in foreign affairs activities, which meant that Bhutto became the last foreign guest to be met by the great Chinese leader, and this honor was enough to represent that Sino-Pakistani relations would develop in an unbreakable direction in the future.
<h1>A great man of a thousand years</h1>
We thought that Bhutto's mood should be heavy when he walked out of Chairman Mao's room.
Although in the early days of the partition and independence of India and Pakistan, Pakistan has been looking for its own protective forces among the Anglo-American forces, and to this end it has not hesitated to join the "Southeast Asia Defense Treaty Organization" and the "Baghdad Treaty Organization" established by the United States and become a member of the anti-China camp, Chairman Mao and the Chinese Government have always given a tolerant and restrained attitude toward this.
On April 27, 1955, Chairman Mao met with Pakistani Ambassador Ahmad and said: "You have signed the Treaty of Manila, and we are not afraid of Pakistan, Thailand, the Philippines, or even Britain and Australia, but the United States." Now we understand that Pakistan joined the Manila Treaty Group because it was afraid of Chinese aggression. I hope that you can slowly understand that China will not invade, and hope to eliminate misunderstandings between each other and improve relations between each other. "
However, with the changes in Pakistan's domestic political situation and once again reaching the brink of pro-US and anti-China, the relations between the two countries have slowly progressed in twists and turns.
What really changed the perception of Bhutto himself and the whole of Pakistan was Chairman Mao's major decision to launch a self-defense counterattack against India in 1962, and Pakistan made a thorough rethinking of its own security concept overnight.
As foreign minister at the time, Bhutto resolutely supported the government's active development of friendly relations with China, and taking advantage of the opportunity to come to negotiate and sign a boundary agreement, Bhutto relayed to the Chinese leaders in person that the previous "Southeast Asia Defense Treaty Organization" and "Baghdad Treaty Organization" had failed or were about to fail.
Since 1964, Pakistan has ceased to participate in any military operations under these treaties. In the second and third Indo-Pakistani wars, with China's resolute support, Pakistan finally withstood India's tremendous pressure and ensured security.
All this, of course, cannot be separated from Chairman Mao's far-sightedness. So although Chairman Mao modestly stated to Bhutto that he "did not achieve much." But Bhutto himself knew it.
On September 9, 1976, Chairman Mao passed away. When the bad news came that neither the Chinese nor Pakistan wanted to accept, Bhutto immediately sent a telegram of condolences on behalf of Pakistan, and the first sentence at the beginning was: "Figures like Chairman Mao, in a century, perhaps a thousand years, can only produce one, they occupy the stage and write the chapter of history with genius inspiration." There is no doubt that Chairman Mao is a giant among giants. He made history seem small.
His powerful influence has left its mark on the hearts of hundreds of millions of men and women around the world... Today, the whole world mourns chairman Mao's passing, but tomorrow at dawn, it will rise up and sing his immortal praises. My thoughts and feelings, like those of my countrymen, are extremely mournful and painful.
The modesty and humor of this character, his glory and greatness, his heroism and victory, will forever be remembered in history. Chairman Mao's name will always be synonymous with the great and just cause of the poor and oppressed, a glorious symbol of mankind's struggle against oppression and exploitation, and a sign of victory over colonialism and imperialism..."
This sense of truth and reality is so abundant that it does not hesitate to praise the words of condolence, which can be regarded as Bhutto's belated answer to Chairman Mao's self-effacing words at that time.
Text/Yu Xin