Chapter 78 Support for oppressed peoples in their war against imperialism[1]

(June 23, 1964) Wars are not good for us.We have to carry out construction, and a war will ruin our construction.The Kuomintang has fought a civil war with us for many years.Later we fought Japan for another eight years. It wasn't that we fought Japan, but Japan fought China.In the long run, it is all foreign countries who come to China.China has fought several wars with Britain, such as the Opium War that started in Guangdong in 1840[2], and the war of the Eight-Nation Allied Forces[3], in which the troops of eight countries including Britain occupied Tianjin and went to Beijing .The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 was fought in Lushun, Dalian and other places.After that, Japan occupied our Northeast.Before that, Tsarist Russia and Japan fought wars on Chinese soil, in the area of ​​Lushun, Liaoyang, and Shenyang[5].Finally, during World War II, Japan occupied almost all of China.These are not our calls to foreign countries, but foreigners to China.The Chinese went to foreign countries to fight. In ancient times, it was the emperor of China who fought in Vietnam and North Korea.Japan later occupied Korea and France occupied Vietnam.

In 1911, we overthrew the Qing emperor.Then there was a scuffle between various factions of warlords. At that time, there was no Communist Party in China.After the Communist Party came into existence, a revolutionary war broke out, and it wasn't us who wanted to fight it, but the imperialists and the Kuomintang wanted to fight it.In 1921, the Communist Party of China was established, and I became a member of the Communist Party.At that time, we were not prepared to go to war either.I am an intellectual, I am a primary school teacher, and I have never studied military affairs. How do I know how to fight? It is because the Kuomintang launched white terror, wiped out the trade unions and peasant associations, killed a large number of 50,000 Communists, and arrested We picked up our guns and went up the mountain to fight guerrillas.Later, after a long march of thousands of miles, he ran to the north.Our army used to have 300,000 people, but now only 20,000 are left.It happened that when the number of people was small, we corrected our mistakes and embarked on the right path.Later our army developed again.After the Japanese left, when Chiang Kai-shek came to attack us again, the enemy would be defeated, and we won the victory of the revolution.Up to now, we have only 15 years to engage in construction.It will not be possible to change China's backwardness in a short period of time, at least it will take decades.

China wants peace.We agree with anyone who talks about peace.We do not approve of war.However, we support the oppressed people's war against imperialism.We support the revolutionary wars in Cuba and Algeria; we also support the war of the South Vietnamese people against U.S. imperialism.These revolutions are of their own making.For example, in Cuba, we did not tell Castro to rise up for revolution, but he himself rose up for revolution. [6] Do you believe it? It was the United States who called him a revolution, and it was the American lackey who called him a revolution.Another example is Algeria, is it that we called Ben Bella[7] the revolution? We didn’t know this person before, and I haven’t seen him until now.It was they themselves who rose up for revolution, and they established a provisional government, which we recognize.They ask for support, and we give them support.The imperialists say that we are "militant", and there is some truth to a certain point.Because we support Castro, we support Ben Bella, we support the people of South Vietnam in their war against America.Another time, when the United States invaded Korea from 1950 to 1953, we supported the Korean people in their war against U.S. imperialism.We have declared this policy publicly and we will not abandon it. That is to say, we will support the peoples of all countries in their wars against imperialism.If we do not support it, we will make mistakes, and we will not be members of the Communist Party.As you know, President Nasser of the United Arab Emirates [8] is not a member of the Communist Party, but he supported the Algerian revolution.If he is not a member of the Communist Party, he can support Algeria. Could it be that we are members of the Communist Party and cannot support Algeria? When Washington [9] rose against Britain more than 180 years ago, France supported Washington. Could it be that the French were members of the Communist Party at that time? Is it? At that time, there was no Communist Party in China, and there was no Communist Party in the whole world.The Communist Party was born in the nineteenth century.Presumably our title of "militant" will continue.

The main one is our domestic problems.At home, we drove away Chiang Kai-shek, the running dog of the United States, and drove away the influence of the United States.So America is not that happy with us.I don't mean the American people, but the American capitalists.There are also some Americans in Beijing who are friendly to us. The United States wants to turn Latin America into a colony. This means economically, and often politically.For example, the former Brazilian President Goulart, I have met him, his party is the Workers' Party, not the Communist Party, and the United States cannot tolerate him and overthrow him.Even Ngo Dinh Diem, who didn't listen to the American language[10], was actually killed by the United States.It is not so peaceful in the United States either.Ngo Dinh Diem was killed by the Kennedy[11] government of the United States. Within a month, Kennedy also went to see God.

The United States says we are "aggressors," and we say it is an aggressor; it says we are "militants," and we say the big capitalists in the U.S. government are militants.Who are the aggressors and militants must be seen by the people of the whole world.The United States has military bases all over China, and has invaded China's Taiwan.We did not occupy any islands of the United States, nor invaded any Latin American or African countries, but only "invaded" one Asian country - China.We fought against imperialism for decades and drove them away.This incident made the United States very unhappy, and neither did the other imperialists.But they have nothing to do now. They can't remove us from the earth, just like they can't remove you Chile from the earth.Even if they want to move Cuba away, even small countries like Albania can't do it.

The Americans say that our government will fall either this year or next year. I'm afraid this is not so true.It seems that it won't fall this year, it won't fall next year, and the year after that, I don't think it will fall either.To overthrow our government requires the United States and Chiang Kai-shek to come to us.Even if they come, they may not necessarily achieve their purpose.They came before, but lost.Now South Vietnam has a population of only 14 million, and the United States can neither advance nor retreat there. It is bogged down in the mud.Latin America, the United States is also a headache.At this point, we are optimistic.People all over the world must rise up and be their own masters, not capitalists.Because we believe this and say it openly, those capitalists don't like us very much.But why do so many capitalists do business with us except the United States? It is because they do not interfere in our internal affairs.Americans want to do business with us, but we just don't.They wanted to send journalists, but that didn't work either.We believe that before the big problems are solved, these small and individual problems can be solved without rushing.So the delegation of Chilean journalists can come to China, but the American journalists cannot.But someday they will come, someday relations between the two countries will be normalized.I think it will take 15 more years, because 15 years have already passed, and adding 15 years will make 30 years. If it is not enough, add more.

According to the "Mao Zedong Diplomatic Selected Works" published in 1994 by Central Literature Publishing House and World Knowledge Publishing House. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] This is the main part of the conversation between Mao Zedong and the delegation of Chilean journalists. [2] The Opium War was a war of aggression launched by Britain against China from 1840 to 1842.In 1840, the British government sent troops to invade China under the pretext of protecting trade because China opposed the import of opium.The Chinese army resisted under the leadership of Lin Zexu, governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.The people of Guangzhou spontaneously organized armed anti-British groups to attack the British invading army.People in Fujian, Zhejiang and other places also spontaneously set off struggles against the British.In 1842, British troops invaded the Yangtze River, forcing the Qing government to sign the first unequal treaty in modern Chinese history, the Treaty of Nanjing, with the British invaders.

[3] Refers to the war in 1900 when eight countries, Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Russia, Japan, Italy, and Austria jointly sent troops to invade China.The Chinese people put up a heroic resistance.The invaders successively captured Dagu, Tianjin, Beijing and other places. At the same time, Tsarist Russia invaded Northeast China alone, forcing the Qing government to sign the unequal "Xin Chou Treaty" with these countries on September 7, 1901. [4] The Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War refers to the Sino-Japanese War that occurred in 1894 (the Sino-Japanese War).This war was deliberately provoked by Japanese militarists.The Japanese army first launched aggression against North Korea and provoked China's army and navy, and then aggressively invaded China's Northeast.The Chinese army fought bravely, but due to the corruption of the Qing government and the lack of preparations to resolutely oppose the invasion, the Chinese side suffered a defeat.In 1895, the Qing government was forced to sign the unequal Treaty of Shimonoseki with Japan.

[5] Refers to a war between Japan and Tsarist Russia from 1904 to 1905 to compete for rights and interests in Northeast China and Korea.The battlefields were mainly in Fengtian (now Shenyang City), Liaoyang area and Lushunkou area in Northeast China, causing huge losses to the Chinese people.Tsarist Russia suffered a defeat in the war. After the mediation of the United States, it signed the "Portsmouth Peace Treaty" with Japan.After the Russo-Japanese War, Japan replaced Tsarist Russia’s dominance in the southern part of the three northeastern provinces of China; Japan’s monopoly on Korea was also recognized by Tsarist Russia in the Treaty of Portsmouth.

[6] See note [3] on page 23 of this volume. [7] Ben Bella refers to Ahmed Ben Bella, born in 1918, one of the leaders of the National Liberation Front of Algeria.In 1956, he was imprisoned by the French colonial authorities for actively participating in organizing and launching the national anti-French armed uprising.When the Algerian Provisional Government was formed in 1958, he was elected in absentia as First Deputy Prime Minister.He was released and returned to China in 1962. In September of the same year, the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria was established and served as the prime minister of the government.In September 1963, he was elected the first president and supreme commander of the armed forces.In April 1964, he served as the general secretary of the National Liberation Front.

[8] United Arab Emirates, see note [3] on page 337 of this volume. [9] Washington, see note [12] on page 194 of this volume. [10] Wu Tingyan, see note [6] on page 375 of this volume. [11] Kennedy, President of the United States from 1960 to 1963.He was stabbed to death on November 23, 1963.