>
> 1. Mao thought little of his own thoughts ("Kissinger Transcripts"
> renukes:
> Mao / Nixon)http://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/4215205.htm
> 12jan99 - The Australian - By CAMERON STEWART in New York
> IN their first meeting in 1972, the staunchly capitalist US
> presidentRichard
> Nixon lavished praise on Chinese leader Mao Zedong, describing him as a
> professional philosopher whose writings had changed the world.
> But Chairman Mao responded bluntly that his writings, which include The
> Thoughts of Chairman Mao, had barely influenced China.
> This strange exchange between the two leaders is one of many newinsights
> into
> the world of high diplomacy conducted during the Cold War, contained ina
> forthcoming book The Kissinger Transcripts. Mao died in 1976 and Nixonin
> 1994.
> The book contains newly released secret notes of meetings between thenUS
> secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Soviet and Chinese leaders
> duringthe
> 1970s. It reveals how, even in times of grave concern about
> worldsecurity, US
> and Communist leaders joked freely about liquor, women and
> nuclearmissiles.
> The Kissinger notes record the first nervous meeting between Nixon
> andMao in
> Beijing in February 1972, in which Nixon tells the Chinese leader:
> "Ihave read
> the Chairman's poems and speeches and I knew he was a
> professionalphilosopher."
> Mao replies: "Those writings of mine aren't anything. There is nothing
> instructive in what I wrote."
> Nixon: "The Chairman's writings moved a nation and have changed
> theworld."
> Mao: "I haven't been able to change it. I've only been able to change
> afew
> places in the vicinity of Beijing."
> Later in the meeting, they engage in an equally odd exchange about
> womenwhen
> discussing Dr Kissinger's ability to conduct secret diplomacy.
> Nixon: "He (Dr Kissinger) doesn't look like a secret agent. He is
> theonly man
> in captivity who could go to Paris 12 times and Peking (now known
> asBeijing)
> once and no one knew it, except possibly a couple of pretty
> girls."(Prime
> minister Zhou Enlai laughs.) . . .
> Kissinger: "They didn't know it, I used it as a cover." Mao: "In Paris?"
> Nixon: "Anyone who uses pretty girls as a cover must be the
> greatestdiplomat
> of all time." Mao: "So your girls are very often made use of?"
> Nixon: "His girls, not mine. It would get me into great trouble if Iused
> girls
> as a cover." The book, extracts of which were published in The New York
> Times,
> reveals how
> Mao, when he was near death in 1975, told Dr Kissinger that he
> believedGod
> preferred capitalists to communists.
> Mao: "I am going to heaven soon . . . and when I see God, I'll tell
> himit's
> better to have Taiwan under the care of the US now."
> Kissinger: "He'll be very astonished to hear that from the Chairman."
> Mao: "No, because God blesses you, not us. God doesn't like us because
> Iam a
> militant warlord, also a communist. That's why he doesn't like me.
> Helikesyou."
> Kissinger: "I've never had the pleasure of meeting Him, so I don'tknow."
> The book, based on records obtained by the US National Security
> Archivein
> Washington, shows how Dr Kissinger and then Soviet leader LeonidBrezhnev
> joked
> about nuclear missile warheads.
> In 1974, as Dr Kissinger talked with Brezhnev, who died in 1982,
> aboutMIRVs
> (multiple independently targeted nuclear warheads), which were
> newmissiles
> capable of carrying 10 separate nuclear warheads the Soviet
> leaderfiddled
> with a dome-shaped object, which he popped open to reveal six
> brasscartridges
> pointing upwards.
> Kissinger: "Is that an MIRV?" (Laughter) Brezhnev: "No, it's
> forcigarettes.
> It's more peaceful than it looks."
> Kissinger later jokes: "What are 3000 MIRVs between friends."
> In 1974, at a New York dinner with Chinese vice-premier Deng Xiaoping,Dr
> Kissinger repeatedly toasts the vice-premier and then tells him: "Ithink
> if we
> drink enough mao tai (Chinese rice liquor), we can solve anything."Deng:
> "Then
> when I go back to China, I must increase production of it."
> But despite the public jocularity, Dr Kissinger was scathing aboutSoviet
> and
> Chinese leaders in private. He called Soviet leaders "stupendous
> liars"and "a
> most unpleasant" group of people, while he described Chinese leaders
> as"cold,
> pragmatic bastards".
1. Mao thought little of his own thoughts ("Kissinger Transcripts"
renukes:
Mao / Nixon)http://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/4215205.htm
12jan99 - The Australian - By CAMERON STEWART in New York
IN their first meeting in 1972, the staunchly capitalist US
presidentRichard
Nixon lavished praise on Chinese leader Mao Zedong, describing him as a
professional philosopher whose writings had changed the world.
But Chairman Mao responded bluntly that his writings, which include The
Thoughts of Chairman Mao, had barely influenced China.
This strange exchange between the two leaders is one of many newinsights
into
the world of high diplomacy conducted during the Cold War, contained ina
forthcoming book The Kissinger Transcripts. Mao died in 1976 and Nixonin
1994.
The book contains newly released secret notes of meetings between thenUS
secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Soviet and Chinese leaders
duringthe
1970s. It reveals how, even in times of grave concern about
worldsecurity, US
and Communist leaders joked freely about liquor, women and
nuclearmissiles.
The Kissinger notes record the first nervous meeting between Nixon
andMao in
Beijing in February 1972, in which Nixon tells the Chinese leader:
"Ihave read
the Chairman's poems and speeches and I knew he was a
professionalphilosopher."
Mao replies: "Those writings of mine aren't anything. There is nothing
instructive in what I wrote."
Nixon: "The Chairman's writings moved a nation and have changed
theworld."
Mao: "I haven't been able to change it. I've only been able to change
afew
places in the vicinity of Beijing."
Later in the meeting, they engage in an equally odd exchange about
womenwhen
discussing Dr Kissinger's ability to conduct secret diplomacy.
Nixon: "He (Dr Kissinger) doesn't look like a secret agent. He is
theonly man
in captivity who could go to Paris 12 times and Peking (now known
asBeijing)
once and no one knew it, except possibly a couple of pretty
girls."(Prime
minister Zhou Enlai laughs.) . . .
Kissinger: "They didn't know it, I used it as a cover." Mao: "In Paris?"
Nixon: "Anyone who uses pretty girls as a cover must be the
greatestdiplomat
of all time." Mao: "So your girls are very often made use of?"
Nixon: "His girls, not mine. It would get me into great trouble if Iused
girls
as a cover." The book, extracts of which were published in The New York
Times,
reveals how
Mao, when he was near death in 1975, told Dr Kissinger that he
believedGod
preferred capitalists to communists.
Mao: "I am going to heaven soon . . . and when I see God, I'll tell
himit's
better to have Taiwan under the care of the US now."
Kissinger: "He'll be very astonished to hear that from the Chairman."
Mao: "No, because God blesses you, not us. God doesn't like us because
Iam a
militant warlord, also a communist. That's why he doesn't like me.
Helikesyou."
Kissinger: "I've never had the pleasure of meeting Him, so I don'tknow."
The book, based on records obtained by the US National Security
Archivein
Washington, shows how Dr Kissinger and then Soviet leader LeonidBrezhnev
joked
about nuclear missile warheads.
In 1974, as Dr Kissinger talked with Brezhnev, who died in 1982,
aboutMIRVs
(multiple independently targeted nuclear warheads), which were
newmissiles
capable of carrying 10 separate nuclear warheads the Soviet
leaderfiddled
with a dome-shaped object, which he popped open to reveal six
brasscartridges
pointing upwards.
Kissinger: "Is that an MIRV?" (Laughter) Brezhnev: "No, it's
forcigarettes.
It's more peaceful than it looks."
Kissinger later jokes: "What are 3000 MIRVs between friends."
In 1974, at a New York dinner with Chinese vice-premier Deng Xiaoping,Dr
Kissinger repeatedly toasts the vice-premier and then tells him: "Ithink
if we
drink enough mao tai (Chinese rice liquor), we can solve anything."Deng:
"Then
when I go back to China, I must increase production of it."
But despite the public jocularity, Dr Kissinger was scathing aboutSoviet
and
Chinese leaders in private. He called Soviet leaders "stupendous
liars"and "a
most unpleasant" group of people, while he described Chinese leaders
as"cold,
pragmatic bastards".
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