Comments on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Notification Draft Concerning the Sino-U.S. Joint Communiqué
(March 6, 1972)
This document is very good; it seems applicable domestically as well, but it should be slightly revised and supplemented.
Notes
Printed from Mao Zedong’s handwritten draft.
[1] These comments were written on a notification draft submitted for review by Zhou Enlai on March 5, 1972, prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to inform Chinese embassies and consulates abroad about the Sino-U.S. Joint Communiqué. The draft stated that U.S. President Richard Nixon’s visit to China and the issuance of the Joint Communiqué had aroused strong reactions in the United States and had also caused a major stir internationally. Overall, the response to the communiqué was positive: most people regarded it as marking a new beginning in Sino-U.S. relations and believed that the international situation would undergo significant changes. It was described as a turning point in international relations with far-reaching implications. At the same time, however, it was emphasized that these agreements remained only on paper, and their realization would depend on the United States’ future concrete actions. The course of events ahead might still involve twists and turns, so we must be prepared. When making public statements, we should proceed with caution and avoid overstatement; in particular, we should refrain from explicitly presenting the Joint Communiqué as our victory and America’s defeat. As for contacts with U.S. diplomatic personnel stationed abroad, we should neither take the initiative nor shun them, but rather maintain a neutral, balanced approach—neither cold nor overly warm, neither arrogant nor servile—while paying close attention to politeness and composure.