Bulletin on the Conversation with Heath
(May 25, 1974)

1. Mao Zedong asked Heath whether Nixon could survive the Watergate scandal.³ Heath believed that Nixon could survive. Mao Zedong said: We don’t understand that Watergate affair. Why has it been blown up so big? Why bother? It’s pointless. Making a fuss about it. Heath asked whether the Watergate affair had made it more difficult for China to establish relations with the United States and to carry out its policy towards the U.S. and Nixon. Mao Zedong said: Not at all. Heath asked how Sino-American relations would develop going forward. It seemed that Sino-American relations had stagnated after Nixon’s visit to China. Mao Zedong said: That doesn’t matter. It’s still fairly good. Could you advise Nixon a little, give him a helping hand, and tell him to pull through the Watergate crisis?

When talking about the 1954 Geneva Conference, Mao Zedong also said: As for the Americans, well, they just stretch their hands out too far. Look—Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Iran, Turkey, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, Europe. The Americans have been cursing us for so many years, over twenty years. Heath joked: China should watch out for American imperialism! Mao Zedong said: But we are relatively at ease about the Americans.

2. Mao Zedong asked Heath: In which year do you think that European security conference of yours will succeed? When Heath said it would be easier to answer if asked when this conference would be finished, Mao Zedong said: Right, our opinions are the same. Once this CSCE⁴ is finished, a genuine rapprochement between the two of them (the U.S. and the Soviet Union) will also be impossible to bring about.

When Heath said that the Soviet Union had great resolve and a strong organization to increase its strength, Mao Zedong asked in reply: Does the Soviet Union have no difficulties? And he said: I think they can’t even look after themselves. It cannot handle Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, China, the Pacific. I think it will lose. When Heath again emphasized the strength of the Soviet forces and asked whether I believed the Soviet Union posed no threat to China, Mao Zedong said: We are prepared for it to come. But if it comes, it will collapse! It only has so few troops, and you Europeans are so afraid! There is a part of public opinion in the West that every day wants to divert this torrent of calamity, Russia, towards China. Your old predecessors, Chamberlain,² including Daladier,³ just wanted to push Germany eastward.

Heath asked whether the Sino-Soviet split was mainly over ideological aspects or caused by Soviet power politics. Mao Zedong said: The border issue was caused by ideology. The Sino-Soviet quarrel should be dated back to 1954, because in 1955 Khrushchev⁵ went to Adenauer⁶ and said, China is a real mess.

Heath said that Adenauer always thought the Soviet Union would try to take over Europe. Mao Zedong said: Europe, Asia, Africa—but its ambitions outstrip its capabilities. It lost Egypt, and its influence here with us is even smaller. There is also some influence; Lin Biao⁷ was one of their men.

Heath said that although the Soviet Union had signed a treaty with Mrs. Gandhi,⁸ they also didn’t have much influence in India. Mao Zedong said: I see it the same way. Your Foreign Secretary, Mr. Home, advised us to get on well with India. His intention was to pry India away from the Soviet side.

When Heath said that a strong Europe was very important and could make Russia worried, Mao Zedong said: When you in Europe grow strong, we are happy. And he said: We think Europe, Asia, including Japan, should not quarrel. If you want to quarrel, all right, but don’t quarrel too much. Heath asked whether I was fairly at ease about Japan. Mao Zedong nodded and said: Yes. Heath also asked whether I believed in the peaceful intentions of the Japanese. Mao Zedong said: For a period that can be estimated, in the future it’s hard to say. But we are not afraid of you Europe.

3. Mao Zedong said: It was Heath who achieved the normalization of diplomatic relations between Britain and China, so I address you as Mr. Prime Minister. When it was mentioned that because Heath was not the incumbent prime minister, I had not arranged for him to review the guard of honor at the airport, Mao Zedong said: I think we should. We are not afraid of offending Wilson.⁹ (To Heath) I voted for you!

When Heath mentioned that Britain might be able to offer China the help it needs in terms of technology, Mao Zedong said: If you help us, we are happy. Heath expressed that he was always glad to help. Mao Zedong said: Good, very good.

Mao Zedong said to Heath: You are left with one Hong Kong issue.¹⁰ We do not discuss it now either. Hong Kong was ceded, and Kowloon is on lease—there are still twenty-four years left. When the time comes, how to handle it, we will discuss it again. It will be a matter for them (pointing to the young comrades present).