Conversation with a Delegation of the Japan–China Friendship Association and Other Japanese Friends [1] (October 7, 1961)

Chairman Mao said: “In Japan, apart from the pro-American monopoly capitalists and the militarist warlords, the broad masses of the people are our true friends. You will also come to feel that the Chinese people are your true friends. There are both genuine and spurious friends, but it is through practice that we can discern who are the real friends and who are the false ones.”

Chairman Mao continued: “There is an old Chinese saying: ‘Things of the same kind gather together; people of like minds associate with one another.’ Japan’s Nobusuke Kishi [2] and Hayato Ikeda [3] are close friends of U.S. imperialism and the Chiang Kai-shek clique. The Japanese people, however, are good friends of the Chinese people.”

Chairman Mao went on to remark: “It was U.S. imperialism that compelled the peoples of China and Japan to unite. Both our peoples have suffered oppression at the hands of U.S. imperialism; sharing this common experience, we have come together in solidarity. We must broaden the scope of this unity, bringing together more than ninety percent of the populations of all of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and indeed the entire world—everyone except the imperialists and the reactionary forces in various countries.”

Concluding, Chairman Mao stated: “Although the road of struggle is tortuous, the future of the Japanese people is bright. The Chinese revolution has been marked by countless twists and turns—victory followed by defeat, then further victory and yet more defeat—yet final victory ultimately belongs to the people. The Japanese people have every reason for hope.”

Finally, Chairman Mao presented his Japanese friends with a poem by Lu Xun, written in his own hand. He explained: “This poem was composed by Lu Xun during the darkest hours just before dawn in China.” The original lines read: “Ten thousand homes wear faces like ink, lost amid the weeds; who dares to sing out, stirring earth-shaking grief? My heart’s vast thoughts stretch to the boundless heavens; in utter silence, I hear the thunder roar.”

Printed according to the October 8, 1961, news release in the People’s Daily.

Notes [1] Among the Japanese friends whom Mao Zedong met on October 7, 1961, were: Toshio Kuroda, head of the delegation of the Japan–China Friendship Association, advisor to the Socialist Party of Japan, member of the House of Representatives, and vice-chairman of the association; Faharuki Yoshida, secretary-general of the delegation; and its members: Mishichiro Kawasaki, Susumu Kobayashi, Masao Shimada, Takae Saito, Seikichi Fujimori, Shichiro Hojiki, and Hideo Nakajima, together with attendant Takeo Suzuki; Kazuo Misima, head of the Japanese Delegation of Civic Educators and also vice-chairman of the Japan–China Friendship Association, along with secretariat chief Sueo Ota and members: Hokichiro Imai, Minoru Tanaka, Kei Toyama, Shoichi Takahashi, Akira Igarashi, Akira Kawai, Hiroyuki Tomita, and Masami Yamazumi; Kuji Anzai, secretary of the Central Secretariat of the Japanese Communist Party and manager of the New Japan Publishing Company, who had come to discuss the translation and publication in Japanese of Volume Four of Selected Works of Mao Zedong, accompanied by Kenji Asakawa and Shotaro Ozaki. Also present at the meeting was Koichi Saionji, a Japanese peace activist residing in Beijing.  [2] Nobusuke Kishi served as Prime Minister of Japan from February 1957 to June 1960.  [3] Hayato Ikeda was at that time serving as Prime Minister of Japan.