Read the complete works of the Chairman.
Mao: Those things of mine are nothing. There’s nothing of educational significance in what I’ve written.
(Looking at the photographers) Now they want to disrupt our talks, the order we have here.
Nixon: The Chairman’s writings have propelled a nation and changed the world.
Mao: I don’t have the ability to change the world. At most, I’ve changed a few places near Beijing.
Our mutual old friend, that is, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, doesn’t approve. He calls us Communist bandits. He recently gave a speech—did you see it?
Zhou Enlai (hereafter Zhou): It was at their recently convened "National Assembly."
Nixon: Chiang Kai-shek calls the Chairman a Communist bandit. What does the Chairman call Chiang Kai-shek?
Zhou: We generally refer to them as the Chiang Kai-shek clique. In the newspapers, we sometimes also call him a bandit. They return the favor by calling us bandits. In any case, we’re just trading insults.
Mao: Isn’t that just bandits? Calling each other bandits, trading insults. Actually, we’ve been friends with him for much longer than you have.
Zhou: Since 1924.
Nixon: Yes, I know.
Mao: The two of us shouldn’t monopolize the entire conversation. We can’t not let Dr. Kissinger speak. You (pointing to Kissinger) have become famous for running around China. The first time you came, after the announcement was published, the whole world was shaken.
Kissinger: It was the President who set the direction and decided the plan.
Nixon: By saying that, he shows he’s an extremely clever assistant. (Mao and Zhou laugh)
Mao: He’s praising you, saying you’re very clever to do it this way.

[1] Refers to Chiang Kai-shek’s "Address at the Opening Ceremony of the Fifth Session of the National Assembly" on February 20.
[2] "The first time you came" refers to Kissinger’s secret visit to China from July 9 to 11, 1971. At that time, Zhou Enlai and he agreed on the announcement that "President Nixon would visit China at an appropriate time before May 1972," which was simultaneously released by both sides in their respective ways on July 15.