Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, said in his book "Leaders" that for a certain period of time, The history of China is largely the history of three people. The three men were Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Chiang Kai-shek. During the Liberation War, this struggle between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party also always had the shadow of a third-party United States.
In 1953, nixon maintained a very good personal friendship with Chiang Kai-shek after he became vice president of the United States, and in 1972, when Sino-US relations broke the ice, Nixon came to Visit China, and he expressed his doubts to Chairman Mao for many years: "Chiang Kai-shek calls you bandits, what do you call Chiang Kai-shek?" Chairman Mao smiled, and a simple reply made Nixon laugh.
Nixon shook hands with Chairman Mao
Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek's acquaintance began with the first Kuomintang-Communist cooperation, and the Kuomintang meeting on January 20, 1924, made them sit under the same roof, and the two people who were in the political arena of the 20th century were only Hunan representatives and ordinary participants of the Communist Party.
Mao Zedong worked in the Kuomintang organs for two years as a member of the Communist Party, and because of the "Zhongshan Ship Incident" quarreled with Chiang Kai-shek, he left the Kuomintang department, and the Meeting of the Kuomintang Standing Committee on June 1, 1926 was their last meeting in the 1920s.
After the "April 12" counter-revolutionary coup d'état in 1927, Chiang Kai-shek's government's attitude toward the Communist Party was only one word-------------------------------------------------------- From the "hui suppression" at Jinggangshan and the five "encirclement and suppression" in the Central Soviet Region to the "bandits in the northwest," Chiang Kai-shek was determined to strangle the revolutionary forces in the country despite the fact that the Japanese army had already traveled to most of China.
Faced with the unprecedented crisis of the fall of mountains and rivers and the destruction of the country and the destruction of the family, Chairman Mao's 19 senior generals in the United Party on December 1, 1936 issued a proposal to Chiang Kai-shek to jointly resist Japan. The "Xi'an Incident" 11 days later directly promoted the establishment of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, and the two parties put aside their old grudges from 10 years ago and cooperated again.
The Eighth Route Army, in coordination with the Kuomintang troops on the frontal battlefield, repelled the Invading Japanese Army and ended the eight-year War of Resistance. Mao Zedong, who had rapidly grown into a generation of leaders, once again became a serious problem for Chiang Kai-shek, and seeing that the CCP was becoming more and more popular with the people, Chiang Kai-shek sent three telegrams in a row inviting Chairman Mao to Chongqing for negotiations.
Chairman Mao arrived in Chongqing on a Kuomintang plane with "great courage" and was arranged by Chiang Kai-shek to live in the forest garden. Chairman Mao, who had always been accustomed to going out day and night, came out for a walk at dawn and ran into Chiang Kai-shek. In response to Chiang Kai-shek's greetings about sleep, Chairman Mao puned: "There is a way that the first thirty years cannot wake up, and the last thirty years cannot sleep!" ”
Chairman Mao and Chiang Kai-shek take a group photo
Chiang Kai-shek was dumbfounded, and in the following negotiations blindly refuted the CPC peace talks plan, did not show the slightest sincerity, but took this opportunity to send a large number of troops to North China and Northeast China, preparing to annex the Liberated Areas in one fell swoop.
After 43 days of negotiations, the two sides have never been able to reach an agreement. Zhou Enlai proposed that Chairman Mao return to Yan'an first, and the two sides compiled the records of the negotiations into a book called the "Double Tenth Agreement." However, the existence of the Double Tenth Agreement did not restrict the actions of the Kuomintang army in attacking the Liberated Areas, and in June 1946, the Kuomintang army began a nationwide liberation war.
In eight months, Chairman Mao abandoned 105 cities, but annihilated 710,000 Kuomintang troops. After the victory of the three major battles, Chiang Kai-shek's defeat was decided, he retreated from Nanjing to Chongqing, and finally flew to Taiwan on the other side of the strait with the remaining more than 1 million remnants of the Kuomintang army.
Because Chiang Kai-shek's government has always maintained relatively close ties with the United States, the United States, which has ulterior motives against China, has repeatedly wanted to create a second Korean Peninsula in China and has repeatedly proposed to Chiang Kai-shek to establish another country.
Although the Americans also reached a consensus on Chiang Kai-shek's strategy, temperament, and broad-mindedness far less than Chairman Mao's, Chiang Kai-shek was rarely qualified in the face of the country's great righteousness, calling the Americans' ideas a great mistake and always "adhering to the one-China" principle.
Chiang Kai-shek and Marshall
After the liberation of Hainan Island in 1950, the Chiang Kai-shek clique panicked, and US President Harry Truman also issued a "statement on abandoning Chiang Kai-shek." Chiang Ching-kuo found Li Cibai, who was related to Chen Yi by marriage, and invited him to the mainland to express his willingness to cooperate with the Chinese Communists. Chen Yi had just relayed the news that the central authorities were not in a hurry to liberate Taiwan, and the United States sent troops to Korea, and the Seventh Fleet also sailed into the Taiwan Strait.
The United States' blatant act of driving a warship into China's territorial waters was strongly condemned by the central authorities, and Truman openly declared that "Taiwan's status is undecided." On the one hand, Chiang Kai-shek, who had mixed feelings, was eager to take advantage of the hand of the United States to resist stubbornly, and on the other hand, he was well aware of the CONSPIRACY of the United States.
The next day, Chiang Kai-shek authorized Ye Gongchao to issue a statement: Taiwan is part of Chinese territory, and the Kuomintang accepts the US defense plan, but does not affect China's sovereignty over Taiwan. After seeing the statement, Chairman Mao said: "Chiang Kai-shek still has a bit of a conscience and does not want to become a sinner for eternity. ”
In 1955, Premier Zhou publicly expressed the will of the Chinese people to liberate Taiwan peacefully in accordance with Chairman Mao's wishes. A year later, Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou again issued the news that they were "willing to carry out the third Kuomintang-Communist cooperation." Premier Zhou also asked foreign guests to send a message to Chiang Kai-shek: "If he is willing to return Taiwan to the motherland, the Chinese people will forgive him." ”
Zhou Enlai
In July of that year, Cao Juren arrived in Beijing at Chiang Kai-shek's behest and discussed with Premier Zhou the specific matters of the "Third Kuomintang-Communist Cooperation." Premier Zhou said, "As long as the regime is unified, everything else can be discussed." Chairman Mao also met with Cao Juren in Zhongnanhai and put forward many constructive proposals for cooperation.
However, when Song Yishan returned to Taiwan from Beijing in 1958 to report on the situation on the mainland, Chiang Kai-shek became angry because Chairman Mao ruled the country well, frequently sent planes to harass the Fujian and Zhejiang regions, and even airdropped many spies in the southwest in an attempt to undermine the order of the people's government.
The United States once again increased its military assistance to Taiwan and formed a unified command system, demanding that Chiang Kai-shek abandon the kinmen and Matsu islands and "rule by drawing a gorge" with Chairman Mao. Chairman Mao immediately made a decision on the US conspiracy and Chiang Kai-shek's foolishness, and the People's Liberation Army began shelling Kinmen on August 23 to deter the United States and Chiang Kai-shek.
After the US warship sailed into the Taiwan Strait to escort Chiang Kai-shek, Chairman Mao ordered that "only Chiang Kai-shek ships should be attacked, not US warships" to test the alliance between the United States and Chiang Kai-shek. Unexpectedly, after the Platon Army opened fire, the US warship fled into the wilderness, leaving Chiang Kai-shek behind to scold "American bastards."
In October 1958, Chairman Mao twice drafted the "Message to Compatriots in Taiwan", reiterating that the Chinese people should take the same position and face the common enemy. In the absence of U.S. ship escorts, the Golden Gate defenders could deliver supplies. The People's Liberation Army intermittently shelled the no-man's land in Kinmen, broadcast in advance to inform the island residents, left the Kuomintang troops on the Islands of Kinmen and Matsu, and smashed the CONSPIRACY of the United States to completely split cross-strait relations.
Letter to Taiwan compatriots
Whether it was the many meetings with Cao Juren or the shelling of Kinmen that lasted for twenty-one years, it was Chairman Mao's sincerity in cooperation with the Kuomintang and the Communists. As long as Chiang Kai-shek can sever ties with the United States, cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party is at hand. It can be said that the existence of the United States and its obstruction are the biggest obstacles to the unimpeded unimpeded passage of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and the restoration of the old good by the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.
In the 1960s, the United States had been conveying the idea of "two Chinas" to Chiang Kai-shek through Soong Mei-ling and the Confucius family, and the new China at that time was excluded by the United Nations and had nothing to do with Soong Mei-ling. In 1964, China's first atomic bomb was successfully detonated, allowing France and China to establish diplomatic relations, and more and more countries in the world supported China, and the United States had to reconsider its attitude toward China.
At that time, US Secretary of State Rusk still held the illusion of Mao and Chiang Standing side by side, and tried his best to persuade Chiang Kai-shek to agree to their plan. Soong Mei-ling and her nephew Kong Lingkan also actively persuaded Chiang Kai-shek to "judge the hour and size up the situation" and submit to the US point of view. Chiang Kai-shek quoted the phrase "Han and thieves are not separated" from the "Table of Later Teachers" to express his adherence to the bottom line of one China.
However, Chiang Kai-shek's relinquishment of his legitimate seat in the United Nations was not out of support for the people's government, but believed that the juxtaposition of the "Republic of China" and New China meant that he recognized Chairman Mao's orthodox regime and achieved the goal of the United States to "split China."
Later, Chairman Mao proposed that if we want to completely resolve the Taiwan issue, we must ease relations with the United States. In January 1969, after Nixon became president of the United States, he also had the intention of easing diplomatic relations and conditions between China and the United States. He asked the presidents of Pakistan and Romania to send messages and make gestures seeking to improve relations.
Nixon with Mrs. Nixon
In 1971, Chairman Mao invited the American table tennis team to visit China, and Premier Zhou also made several appointments with the American writer Snow to visit China, conveying a signal that China was willing to break the ice. At the same time, the Chinese Government has made it clear that the foundation for the restoration of Sino-US relations is based on the withdrawal of all armed forces from the Taiwan region in the United States.
Through the joint efforts of the two sides, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger secretly came to China and reached an agreement on President Nixon's visit to China. President Nixon and his wife arrived at beijing airport by plane on February 21, 1972, and Premier Zhou personally greeted them. The two countries have crossed more than two decades of chasm and have once again established contact, ushering in a new era.
China welcomed the Nixon ceremony
In the afternoon of the same day, Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou held secret talks with Nixon in the chairman's apartment, and the meeting between the leaders of the two sides mainly focused on the international situation and Sino-US relations, while the Indochina issue and the Taiwan issue were the most important issues in the conversation.
Chairman Mao also took the initiative to mention another of Nixon's good friends, Chiang Kai-shek, who was far away in Taiwan, and said: "He also called us communist bandits in his speech recently. Nixon asked rhetorically: "Chiang Kai-shek called the chairman a communist bandit, so what does the chairman call Chiang Kai-shek?" ”
Chairman Mao smiled and replied with seven words: "We also call him a bandit." Premier Zhou added: "We generally call them the Chiang Kai-shek clique, and sometimes we call each other bandits in the newspapers, but we just scold each other." ”
After listening to it, Nixon could not laugh and cry, and he understood the deep meaning behind this remark, believing that the relationship between the CCP and Chiang Kai-shek was like a scooter that went up and down. As communists, they hated Chiang Kai-shek, but standing in Chinese status, they respected Chiang Kai-shek very much. Even Chiang Kai-shek never expressed the same view to Nixon.
Although the CPC and the Chiang clique call each other bandits, they surprisingly unanimously adhere to the "one-China" principle, and this tacit understanding, which belongs exclusively to the Chinese tacit understanding, has had a great impact on the US Asia-Pacific strategy.
Later, Nixon mentioned Mao, Zhou, and Jiang in his book "Leaders" and objectively evaluated them. Even though Chiang Kai-shek shared his ideals and principles, Nixon thought that Chiang Kai-shek was a nervous, restrained little man who was too rigid as a strategist.
Nixon and Chiang Kai-shek
Nixon thought that Zhou Enlai was a more far-sighted man than Chairman Mao, but had to admire the wisdom of Chairman Mao's leadership. Nixon said he was a natural leader who was unhurried, steady, and resourceful. During this conversation, Nixon noticed that although Chairman Mao's office was messy, it never happened when anyone came in to report and interrupt the conversation between the host and the guest. He believed that this was determined by Chairman Mao's status as a "saint", and that his strategizing and great wisdom were also the root causes of his victory over Chiang Kai-shek.
Nixon's appreciation of Chairman Mao and the CCP laid the groundwork for future Sino-US cooperation. On February 28, 1972, Premier Zhou and Nixon signed the Joint Communiqué in Shanghai, making a stressful statement on such issues as "Taiwan is a province of China" and "the liberation of Taiwan belongs to China's internal affairs."
The resolution of this key point made the next cooperation between China and the United States more logical, and the improvement of Sino-US relations became a milestone event in the political history of the 20th century.