China Will Not Expand Outward

Date: 1957-12-14
Source: en:FLP-Diplomacy
CHINA WILL NOT EXPAND OUTWARD*
(December 14, 1957)
Chairman Mao Zedong (hereinafter referred to as Mao): You are both
very young, and this is of great advantage to your country.
Deputy Prime Minister U Ba Swe (hereinafter referred to as Ba): It is
just because our country is young, and so are the leaders.
Mao: Our country is also young, but we are relatively older, because
we have been engaged in guerrilla warfare for a long time. The area of
Burma is not small; what is the amount of land per capita?
Deputy Prime Minister U Kyaw Nyun (hereinafter referred to as Kyaw):
On average, one acre of cultivated land per person, but we still have a lot
of reclaimable wasteland. The area of cultivated land at present is 20 million
acres, which can probably be increased by 40 million.
Mao: The Chinese people have only three mu per capita, half what
the Burmese people have. Our reclaimable land is rather scanty, but you
need not be afraid that China would covet Burmese territory. Burmese
territory belongs to the Burmese people. No Chinese is allowed to covet
it.
I asked Prime Minister U Nu when he came to China whether anyone
in Burma is afraid of China. He said some people were. I explained to
him then that Burma need not be afraid of China. We are resolutely against
aggression—aggression against any country.
Kyaw: We believe China in this respect. However, before Prime
Minister U Nu's visit to China and his meeting with Chairman Mao,
Burma was indeed a bit afraid of China, because Burma is a small country,
while China is a big one. Since Premier Zhou Enlai visited Burma and we
jointly initiated the Five Principles,^'® we came to understand each other.
Therefore, there is no fear in Burma now.
Mao: Burma used to think of Yunnan Province as being wrapped in
* This is the main part of Mao Zedong's conversation with deputy prime ministers U
Ba Swe and U Kyaw Nyun of Burma.
darkness, wondering how many troops China stationed there and what it
was cooking against Burma. Burma was then very uneasy about us, so we
suggested that Burma set up a consulate in Yunnan to observe.
Ba: It is quite natural that we had such fear, because historically big
countries always bully small ones, and Burma is situated between big
countries. Anyhow, our fears have now vanished.
Mao: Prime Minister Nehru also told us that some countries are afraid
of China, some of the United States, and some even of India. China and
India, Burma, Laos and Cambodia are friendly neighbors, so we are quite
at ease in our southwest. We are also at ease in the north, because the
Soviet Union, Korea and the People's Republic of Mongolia are there. What
we are worried about is our east. Surely we are not afraid of Japan, the
Philippines, Taiwan or Hong Kong, but of the United States, which will
make use of these places to plot against us. We have a very long coastline
of 12,000 kilometers, so we have to pay more attention to our maritime
defense. There is no need to station many troops in our southwest.
Ba: By no means will Burma join any military bloc or become the
base of any imperialist power.
Mao: China is a large country and it has a great number of things
to take care of. How could we have the idea of aggression against others
when we can barely manage our own affairs? Although we have a big
population, we are able to meet the people's needs for food and clothing
by relying on ourselves. Some Western observers, such as Attlee,"^ hold
that China with too big a population will have difficulty in finding a way
out. They do not know that in China it requires only one fifteenth of a
hectare (one mu) of land to feed one person, and even one thirtieth of a
hectare (half a mu) is enough in some places. Our population is increasing
and is estimated to reach one billion by the end of the 20th century, but
by then both our industry and our agriculture will have developed.
Premier Zhou Enlai: By that time every ten persons may have one
hectare of land, or one and a half mu for each person.
Mao: That's why China will not expand outward. How nice if humans
were able to invent artificial food, like the synthetic fibers for clothing at
present.
Kyaw: If the synthetic fibers could be mass-produced, the land now
used to grow cotton and hemp could be turned over to food crops.
Mao: How many remnants of Kuomintang troops are still in Burma?
Ba: There are a few, but they move about in the Burmese-Laotian and
Burmese-Thai border areas and are difficult to locate. They flee to Laos or

Thailand when we send armed forces to pursue and attack them, and they
come back to make harassment as soon as our forces have left.
Mao: Is the number less than before?
Ba: It is estimated between 1,000 to 1,500 persons, they are no longer
a political organization but just a gang of bandits, who loot and plunder
wherever they go. They were 12,000 to 16,000 when they numbered most.
Mao: These Chinese did great harm to the Burmese people, destroying
Burmese villages. I wonder if Burma will demand compensation from China.
Kyaw: The Chinese government has nothing to do with these bad
elements.
Mao: Yet we feel this way. You are helping us wipe them out, and
this is mutual cooperation, because they are our common enemy.
Ba: In this regard, Thailand has given us some help, and so has China.
For instance, when we sent our air force to bomb these Kuomintang troops,
our planes sometimes flew over Thailand territory, and we had to apologize
to Thailand from time to time. Everything is all right now, since we have
arrived at an understanding with Thailand.
Mao: It would be good if Thailand could change into a country
like yours. Thailand is a member state of the Southeast Asian Treaty
Organization,'^ but the majority of the people of Thailand harbor no
hostility against us. Some people in Thailand are afraid of our aggression.
Hence someone spread the rumor that China was going to give Pridi
Phanomyong, the ex-prime minister of Thailand, now seeking political
asylum in China, an army of 100,000 soldiers to stage a comeback; another
rumor was that China was carrying out Free Thailand activities. Of course,
Thailand came to understand us later on.
Kyaw: True, Thailand had such fears of China in the beginning.
Mao: They have sent some delegations here to see what is going on,
and it is better now.
Does Burma have diplomatic relations with Thailand?
Ba: Yes, since long ago. However, the improvement in relations
between the two countries is a matter of recent years.
Mao: I said to Prime Minister U Nu last time that I hope Burma
would help China by working on Thailand.
U Hla Maung (Burmese Ambassador to China): Prime Minister U Nu
has made efforts in this respect. Pakistan is a SEATO member, but it has
diplomatic relations with China. Why not Thailand?
Mao: Your observation is quite correct.
Ba: Prime Minister U Nu will go to Thailand before long.
Mao: Please tell Prime Minister U Nu that we hope he will give us
further help. We are grateful for his help in the past. We believe that
Thailand will improve its relations with us after a period of time, but right
now it still dares not do so.
(From the verbatim record)