(March 22, 1963)

The Chinese people are happy to see you. You are on the very front line, waging a heroic struggle, and the United States is very afraid of you. The United States is such a big country, yet it fears your small country and can do nothing about you. A direct attack would make it fear world public opinion. There is another point—it fears getting bogged down and unable to get out, isn’t that so?

The scale of the guerrilla forces in South Vietnam is not very large, yet the Americans can do nothing about them. In the past they numbered a few thousand; now they have fifteen thousand. The United States used to say the problem could be resolved in a few months, but now there is no deadline.

When we resisted U.S. aggression and aided Korea, we also had help from the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union sold weapons to us; at that time Stalin was still alive. Stalin passed away shortly before the Korean armistice in 1953. However, at that time they provided help from behind the scenes; it was mainly the people of Korea and China fighting against the armies of sixteen countries, including Britain, France, Australia, Turkey, and so on.

This shows that while imperialism is strong, it is still strong, but it can be defeated. In dealing with imperialism, you have experience, and we also have experience; we have fought both the Americans and the Japanese. It is essential to be prepared to fight; without preparation there is danger.

[I]
Items one to three are part of Mao Zedong’s conversation with Major Fernández, Minister of Military Training of the Cuban Armed Forces.

When we carried out our revolution, we had no air force, no navy, and no heavy artillery. Only in the course of the revolution, by seizing the enemy’s weapons, did we acquire cannons, all of which were supplied by the United States to Chiang Kai-shek. We captured some tanks but did not organize tank units. We never had an air force. Our air force was established only after the victory of the revolution, just like yours.

But your enemy Batista[I] had heavy artillery, an air force, and a navy, and was stronger than you. Why did he lose the war? It was because he did not have the support of the people. At that time, no one aided you at all. Although the United States aided Batista, he could not avoid defeat. The simple reason is the same as with Chiang Kai-shek—he did not have the support of the people. If the people do not support him, what can be done? No matter how strong the weapons, nothing can be done. This principle has been so since ancient times. The October Revolution was victorious in the same way. The Bolsheviks had no weapons in their hands; they seized them from the enemy, under Lenin’s command.

Those who maintain ties with the masses will never fail. The imperialists and reactionaries of various countries are divorced from the masses, and they are bound to fail one day.

[I]
Batista, former President of Cuba, whose dictatorial government was overthrown in 1959.