Brothers in Arms (141 page)

Read Brothers in Arms Online

Authors: Odd Arne Westad

Tags: #Political Science, #International Relations, #General, #test

page_374<br/>
Page 374
tion from the CC CCP,
26
ten Chinese comrades were planning to come on holiday to the USSR. But he also said that the main Chinese leaders couldn't accept our invitation because they were too occupied by internal problems in the country.
Zhou Enlai said, for example, that he himself had not been on holiday during the three years of the ''Great Leap," even after his illness in 1959.
In this connection he informed me that a decision of the last "working meeting" the CC CCP "recommended me to work half a day for reasons of health, but this decision I am unable to implement in practice."
I said that he systematically broke that decision and, obviously, wouldn't be able to stick to it in the future. Zhou Enlai said that, unfortunately, this was true.
The conversation lasted more than two hours in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. The head of the first sector of the department on relations with brotherly parties of the CC CCP Ye Husheng, the CC CCP staff workers Yan Minfu and Zhou Zhucheng, as well as the Counselors of the Embassy O. B. Rakhmanin and F. V. Mochulskii were present.
Source: AVPRF, f. 0100, op. 54, pa. 466, d. 8, pp. 119-33, excerpted. Obtained by O. A. Westad; translated by Olga Baeva.
XVI. Records of Conversations, Chervonenko and Deng Xiaoping, March-April 1962
These are two brief excerpts from conversations between Deng Xiaoping and the Soviet ambassador, which took place at a time when Deng and other CCP leaders made a last attempt at restoring some form of stability to Sino-Soviet relations. Several such exploratory meetings were held in Beijing between February and early June 1962. During the Beidahe meetings in the summer of 1962, Mao Zedong criticized those leaders who had believed that it could be possible to find some areas of cooperation with the Soviet Union.
MARCH 1
At the beginning of the meeting, Deng Xiaoping and CC CCP [Central Committee Chinese Communist Party] Secretariat candidate member Yang Shangkun were cautiously
26
Almost certainly a typing error in original; "CPSU" makes more sense.

 

page_375<br/>
Page 375
reserved, noticeably nervous, and evidently ready to receive a document of a different character.
27
[Deng said] ". . . we draw your attention to the fact that your letter talks about the necessity of improving relations with Albania. In the end, the larger party should take the initiative on such issues. Issues of prestige do not exist for a large party and a large country. In the past we had disagreements with other parties and we have experience in resolving them, as we told Comrade Khrushchev. As we told you earlier, we have experience in relations with Korea. The CPSU [Communist Party of the Soviet Union] has much experience in relations with Poland. For this reason, given a desire to improve relations, of course, a resolution will be found. . . ."
The meeting, which continued for about an hour and a half, took place in an even, calm tone. After the Chinese comrades had acquainted themselves with the contents of the CC CPSU's letter, their reservations disappeared; they acted more freely and cordially. In parting with us, Deng Xiaoping said: "Your letter calls for solidarity and that is good."
APRIL 9
On April 5, in keeping with instructions from the Center, I turned to the CC CCP with a request to meet with Mao Zedong, or with a person to be named by him, in order to inform the Chinese side of the negotiations of Comrade A. A. Gromyko with [U.S. Secretary of State] D[ean] Rusk on the German issue. After a silence lasting for four days, they replied to us that Deng Xiaoping had been instructed by the CC CCP to meet with the ambassador.
I visited Deng Xiaoping in the CC CCP building. In connection with Deng Xiaoping's question about my trip to Moscow, I told him in detail about the work of the March plenum of the CC CPSU. Deng Xiaoping then handed me a letter from the CC CCP of April 7, 1962, which is an answer to the CC CPSU letter of February 22, 1962.
Since these letters by the CC CCP are long, Deng Xiaoping stated that he would not read it out. The basic content of the letter of the CC CCP to the CC CPSU, he continued, is that, no matter what, the CPSU and the CCP must close ranks and, in a spirit of unity, resolve their problems. . . .
Source: AVPRF, f. 0100, op. 55, pa. 480, d. 6, pp. 43-9, 100-4. Translated by Benjamin Aldrich-Moodie.
27
Chervonenko presented the CC CPSU's letter to fraternal parties on relations with Albania.

 

page_376<br/>
Page 376
XVII. Records of Meetings of the CPSU and CCP Delegations, Moscow, July 5-20, 1963
28
The final document is an excerpt from the records of several secret meetings between Soviet and Chinese leaders in Moscow in the summer of 1963. The Soviets had agreed to the meetings as a last attempt to find common ground with the Chinese, and the Soviet Politburo had prior to the meetings decided to reduce anti-CCP propaganda and to resume aid to China if some form of agreement was reached. At the meetings, however, both sides presented their views in ways which gave little hope for compromise. The final meeting, on July 20, 1963, broke up with no agreements, not even on where and when to continue the discussions. In effect, this was the last meeting between top leaders of the two sides during the alliance. In the fall of 1963 the CPSU and the CCP attacked each other publicly in massive propaganda efforts. On July 25, 1963, the CCP Politburo circulated a report that stressed the need to intensify the revolution on the ideological and cultural fronts.
JULY 8
Deng Xiaoping: By law, obviously, Comrade Grishin
29
should not object to our working?
Grishin: Today is a work day. I don't know what Liu Ningyi
30
thinks.
Kang Sheng:
31
Liu Ningyi is silent, which means that he agrees.
Deng Xiaoping: Well, as for today, perhaps I should speak?
Susiov: Please, [go ahead]. . . .
[Speech by the CCP delegation head Comrade Deng Xiaoping]
First of all, I want to announce that our delegation at the request of the CC [Central Committee] of our party came to this meeting in Moscow of representatives of the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] and USSR with the sincere intention of removing discord and strengthening unity. . . .
. . . It can be said with all candor that a whole series of disagreements of a fundamental character which exist today in the international Communist movement started at the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU [Communist Party of the Soviet Union].
28
The Chinese delegation was headed by Deng Xiaoping; the Soviet delegation by Mikhail Suslov.
29
Viktor Grishin, chairman of the Soviet Council of Trade Unions and candidate member of the CC CPSU Politburo.
30
Liu Ningyi, head of the All-China Foundation of Trade Unions.
31
Kang Sheng, CCP head of intelligence, secretary of the CCP CC.

 

Other books

Wild Nights by Jaci Burton
Circles of Confusion by April Henry
Falcon's Angel by Danita Minnis
October Breezes by Maria Rachel Hooley
Lie to Me by Tori St. Claire
BirthRight by Sydney Addae
La nariz by Nikolái Gógol
For Better For Worse by Pam Weaver