Conversation during Meeting with Nixon

Nixon: He doesn't look like a secret agent. He is the only person capable of going to Paris twelve times and coming to Beijing once under unfree conditions without anyone knowing—except perhaps two or three pretty girls. (Zhou Enlai laughs heartily)

Kissinger: They didn't know I was using them as cover.

Nixon: A man who uses pretty girls as cover must be the greatest diplomat in history.

Mao: Are your girls often used by others?

Nixon: His girls, not mine. If I used girls as cover, I'd be in big trouble.

Zhou: (Laughing) Especially during the election. (Kissinger laughs) Dr. Kissinger doesn't run for president because he is not a U.S.-born citizen.

Kissinger: Miss Tang is eligible to be President of the United States.

Nixon: Then she would be the first woman president. We have a candidate.

Mao: If there were such a candidate, it would be very dangerous. To be honest, if the Democratic Party comes to power again, we cannot but deal with it.

Nixon: We understand. We hope we won't put you in that position.

Mao: These questions are not for discussion here with me; they should be discussed with the Premier. My questions are philosophical ones. That is to say, I cast a vote for you during your election campaign. There is an American here named Frank, who, during the turmoil in your country—that is, during your last election campaign—wrote an article saying you would win. I appreciated that article very much. But now he opposes your visit.

Nixon: I think the Chairman cast his vote for me as the lesser of two evils.

Mao: I like rightists. People say you are a rightist, that your Republican Party is rightist.

Nixon: Yes.

Mao: That Prime Minister Heath is also a rightist.