(December 21, 1955,
February 10, 1956)
We in China can trade with Thailand. Thailand wants to sell several hundred thousand tons of rice to China, and we can buy it. We can also buy some rubber. What do you need? If you want steel, want iron, we have both. If you want light industrial products, we also have them. As for daily necessities, you should set up your own factories to produce them. We can help you set up light industrial factories. At present we can help you set up cotton textile mills, paper mills, and sugar refineries. You can exchange rice and rubber for them. If you need, we can also send technical personnel to help you design the factories; after completion they will return, and the factories will be handed over entirely to you.

To Prime Minister Phibunsongkhram, Police Director-General Phao Siyanon, and Nai Luan, I express my thanks for their greetings. We hope that everyone will cooperate and unite, and we hope that Phibunsongkhram and Phao will unite. China has no secrets; we do not say one thing to your face and another behind your back. We have only one set of things, not two. On this point, when you go to India and Burma, you can ask them and find out. If you have more contact with us, over a longer period, you will also come to understand it.

Will China invade you? You can watch, watch for ten or eight years. Whether China respects
[1]
Part one of this text is part of Mao Zedong’s conversation with Thai representatives including An Lian and others on December 21, 1955; part two is part of Mao Zedong’s conversation with the Thai People’s Friendship Promotion Delegation visiting China on February 10, 1956.

or does not respect you, whether it treats you as brothers, you can also watch. Watch for many years, and you will see clearly. There is another point: whether we are reasonable or not, you can also watch. Some say the Communists are unreasonable, untrustworthy, and hard to deal with; that once there has been friction in the past, it is hard to become friends. You can watch that too! The United States has had the greatest friction with us, yet we still want to be friends with the United States, but the United States is unwilling. We want to, it is unwilling, so what can be done? We can only wait.

Your approach must be cautious; the United States will strike viciously, so be careful. When you first proposed coming secretly, after we understood your difficulties, we agreed. We must slowly and gradually improve Sino-Thai relations. Phibunsongkhram and Phao should unite; unity benefits Thailand. The United States hopes you will be at odds, quarreling internally. It creates this faction to oppose that faction, and that faction to oppose this one, in order to seize the chance to make trouble. This time your coming is very good; if there is an opportunity in the future, come again. We can also send people to visit your side; as long as you are willing, we can go; if it is inconvenient for you, we can also not go. If we go, and the United States makes trouble for you, causing you difficulties, then we can also not go. We will not preach communism in your country either; we only speak of peaceful coexistence, of friendship, of doing business. We do not incite people to oppose their government. Prime Minister U Nu feared that we would incite the Burmese Communist Party to oppose the U Nu government; we said we recognize only one government of yours; a country cannot have two governments at the same time. You also have a Communist Party in your country; we will not incite them to oppose your government.

Thailand has overseas Chinese. Those who have joined your nationality are considered Thai people; those who have not joined Thai nationality are Chinese. Otherwise, with so many overseas Chinese, people would be afraid. We have also dissolved the Communist Party organizations among our overseas Chinese abroad, to dispel the suspicions of the governments of the countries where overseas Chinese reside, so that everyone trusts each other. Whether we say one thing and do another, you can also watch. Words alone are no proof; you can later look at the facts. After watching for a long time, you will see clearly.

We hope to be able to gradually improve the relations between our two countries, and later the two countries will establish diplomatic relations. Act according to the conditions your situation permits; we can wait. Our wish is for friendship between the two countries. If there are misunderstandings, they can be explained slowly. For example, there is fear that China wants to invade Thailand; actually, we are afraid of others invading us, afraid of the United States invading us. We are not afraid of India or Thailand invading us. Right now the United States is occupying our Taiwan.

At present you are in difficulty; take it slowly, and you must act according to actual circumstances. When necessary, say a few good words about the United States and a few bad words about us; we will understand. Every country must develop its own economy and culture. When your country and other countries have independence and sovereignty, and have developed their economy and culture, it is beneficial to China. The prime ministers of Pakistan, Cambodia, and Ceylon are all coming to China recently. Actually, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Ali, once scolded China at the Bandung Conference and quarreled with Premier Zhou Enlai; Prince Sihanouk also once quarreled with Premier Zhou. (Asked whether Premier Zhou had quarreled with Prince Wan, Zhou answered: Prince Wan was friendly from the very beginning.) You have quarreled a little less. With them, we have both a side of quarreling and a side of unity. These countries opposing China is not the same as the United States opposing China. Do you believe this? I believe this.
The Japanese government also opposes us, but this is a different matter from the United States opposing us. The Philippines is the same; it is unwilling to establish diplomatic relations with us; Romulo also quarreled with Premier Zhou at the Bandung Conference. We are very concerned about the situation of these countries. These countries and we share a common experience, all being bullied by the United States. The Asian-African countries all oppose colonialism: Indonesia is dissatisfied with the Netherlands, North Africa and Indochina are dissatisfied with France, Malaya is dissatisfied with Britain, the Near and Middle East are also dissatisfied with Britain. Those colonialists speak ill of us, saying we are seizing their markets. But it is not China that is seizing the markets of various countries, it is the United States that is seizing the markets of various countries; it is not China that is establishing military bases abroad, it is the United States that is establishing military bases abroad; it is not China that is sending military advisory groups to various countries, it is the United States that is sending military

advisory groups to various countries. Generally speaking, first, China has not seized the markets of various countries; second, it has not established military bases abroad; third, it has not sent military advisory groups to various countries; fourth, it has not concluded unequal treaties with political conditions attached with various countries. In fact, China seized their market within China’s own territory, China established military bases within China’s own territory, and as a result drove away their friend Chiang Kai-shek. We seized the Chinese market, established military bases in China, and we showed no courtesy to Chiang Kai-shek. The United States says that in doing so we made a mistake. Now we have made another mistake. What mistake have we made? The mistake of receiving foreign friends who come to visit. Over the past three years, more than a thousand people have come from Japan, including members of parliament; we made the mistake of receiving them. Now we have made the mistake of receiving you. One day we will also make the mistake of receiving Americans who come to visit. The president of the Institute of Foreign Affairs is a president who makes mistakes, because he often receives foreign friends. And you have also made a mistake by coming to China; in the future, others will again make such mistakes. As you move toward neutrality, you will also make some mistakes, because speaking of peace, speaking of neutrality, the United States says it is all a mistake. Such are the rights and wrongs of the world.