The more cautious line expressed in this last paragraph gained ground in November and thereafter. In a November 22 broadcast to the armed forces, General Yang Yung admitted: Our enemies are still powerful. They will desperately fight for their 23 The fact that the shift in the Chinese propaganda line occurred in the period following the Quemoy crisis, and more particularly following Khrushchev's clarifying statement of October 5, suggests that this shift reflected a Chinese reaction not only to their own poor performance in the Quemoy affair but also to the firm posture that the United States had assumed and the USSR had failed to assume on that occasion. The nature of the United States response in the Taiwan area could only have cast doubt on Peking's evaluation of Western weakness. In any event, China's discontinuance, shortly after Quemoy, of any dramatic assertions of impending Western doom gave greater prominence to the long-haul orientation that had become increasingly evident in the fall of 1958. The paper-tiger theme, however, was revived briefly in early January, when the USSR launched its "cosmic" rocket.24. But at the Twenty-first Congress of the CPSU there was further evidence that Peking's line was moving closer to Moscow's. Khrushchev described the Soviet Seven Year Plan as a "decisive stage in the economic competition of socialism and capitalism." He added that the plan, when fulfilled, will so greatly increase the economic potential of the USSR that, When the USSR becomes the world's leading industrial power, when the PRC becomes a mighty industrial power, and when all the socialist countries together will be producing more than half of the world industrial output, then, said Khrushchev, "the international situation will change radically": The new balance of forces will be so evident that even the most diehard imperialists will clearly see the futility of any attempt to unleash a war against the socialist camp. 25 Speaking of the present military balance, however, Khrushchev went no further than to say that "the correlation of real forces in the world today now is such that we shall be able to repel any attack by any enemy. 26 Chou En-lai, who addressed the Congress on the following day, appeared to place a greater emphasis than Khrushchev on the present danger of war, much like USSR Minister of Defense Marshal Mali 23 Chinese Home Service, Peking, November 22, 1958. 24 See NCNA, Peking, January 4, 1959. 25 Khrushchev's speech to the Twenty-first Party Congress, Pravda, January 28, 1959, in CDSP, Vol. 11, No. 4, p. 19. 26 CDSP, Vol. 11. No. 5, p. 17. novsky. But in the general tenor of his speech, Chou went along with Khrushchev's stress on peaceful economic competition and the change that would take place in the international situation when the Seven Year Plan had been realized: At the present time, peaceful competition between socialism and capitalism is taking place on a world-wide scale. The socialist camp is growing ever more prosperous while the imperialist camp totters to its fall. This enables people to see clearly that the socialist system, full of vigor and vitality, is incomparably superior to the decadent capitalist system. The socialist camp has long since gained absolute superiority over the imperialist camp in terms of popular support, size of populations, and rate of increase of production. In the most important branches of science and technology-in developing rockets, for instance the Soviet Union has already left the United States far behind. The Soviet Union's great plan to build Communism indicates that the competition between socialism and capitalism has reached a new stage. When this seven-year plan is realized, the Soviet Union will have surpassed Britain and West Germany in per capita production; and in another five years it will have outstripped the United States in per capita production. During this period, China and the other socialist countries will also develop by leaps and bounds. By that time, the socialist camp will have gained absolute superiority over the imperialist camp in material production. We can say with full confidence that the day is not far off when socialism will gain the decisive victory in its peaceful competition with capitalism. Latest international developments indicate that the enemy rots away with every passing day while for us things are daily getting better.. 27 27 Chou En-lai, speech delivered to the Twenty-first Congress of the CPSU on January 28, 1959, NCNA, Moscow, January 28, 1959, in SCMP, No. 1948, February 4, 1959, pp. 2–7. [From Reporter in Red China. Copyright © 1966 by Charles Taylor. Random House. Reprinted by permission.] ENVOYS TO THE GREAT WITHIN* By Charles Taylor (Foreign Correspondent, Toronto Globe and Mail) On the sea, east of Peking, is a small town called Pei Tai Ho, with a beach and a hotel. Here, in July and August, foreign residents in Peking are permitted to take their holidays. There is little to do except sleep and lie in the sun. But even when engaged in such innocent pursuits, foreigners arouse the stern suspicion of Chinese officials and are subject to careful regulation. There is a notice board on the beach with instructions in Chinese, Russian, and English. Some of the points are routine, but three are remarkable: -Sea bathers must wear dark-colored swimming suits. The mentally defective should be kept from sea bathing. -To promote the spirit of friendship and mutual help, collective sea bathing is recommended. (signed) The People's Council of Pei Tai Ho District. It was only in 1861 that the Chinese established their Foreign Ministry. Before that they made do with an Office for Barbarian Affairs. Today something of the arrogance implied in that earlier title is still manifest in Chinese dealings with foreign residents and visitors. For while it would be absurd to maintain that Communism has not brought great changes to China and has not influenced the mentality and methods of the leaders, the Chinese name for their country is still Chung Kuo-the Middle Kingdom. As under previous dynasties, the Chinese still show deep feelings of cultural and racial superiority, and a conviction that the world revolves around Peking. To them, to some extent, we are still barbarians who come bearing tribute to the Celestial Court and are graciously permitted in turn to study the excellence of Chinese civilization. Today nearly fifty nations have embassies or trading offices in Peking, with hundreds of diplomats, secretaries, and family members. About thirty foreign correspondents are resident in the capital, and *NOTE BY SUBCOMMITTEE STAFF. The book from which this excerpt is taken, was the result of eighteen months spent by the author in China as resident correspondent for the Toronto Globe and Mail. Mr. Taylor was based in Peking from May 1964 to October 1965, as one of four correspondents from the West, and the only North American. there are also several hundred foreign students, language teachers, and other experts. Then there are the visitors: businessmen, delegations from friendly countries, and even, to an increasing extent, tourists. The size of this influx would have scandalized officials of earlier dynasties. After the arrival of Marco Polo and the early Jesuit travelers, the Mandarins worked desperately to keep the foreigners away from Peking. In the last decade of the eighteenth century, the British envoy, Lord Macartney, received a polite but firm rebuff, and was told that there was no question of nations establishing embassies in Peking. To his sovereign, George III, Macartney brought back the famous edict of the great Emperor Ch'ien Lung, which said in part: "As to what you have requested in your message, O King, namely to be allowed to send one of your subjects to reside in the Celestial Empire to look after your Country's trade, this does not conform to the Celestial Empire's ceremonial system, and definitely cannot be done. . . .” When the opium trade and other commercial prospects led the European powers to force their way into China in the nineteenth century, Chinese officials tried to limit their incursions to Canton and other southern ports. It was only in the last decades of the century, after Chinese forces had suffered shattering defeats at the hands of the marauding and avaricious Europeans, that the foreigners began to establish their missions in Peking. Communist rule has made significant changes in this traditional antipathy toward foreign incursions. Seeking leadership of both the Communist and Afro-Asian worlds, the Chinese welcome their envoys and embassies. Trying to outflank the United States, and needing their own outposts abroad, the Chinese tolerate the missions of those Western countries, such as Britain, with whom political differences are often acute. In the wake of the dispute with Moscow, Peking proclaims a proud policy of self-reliance while actually turning to the Western world and Japan for the goods and equipment which its nascent industry demands. Times have changed since Ch'ien Lung told George III: "We have never valued ingenious articles, nor do we have the slightest need of your country's manufactures. . . ." Today such "ingenious articles" as fertilizer plants and chemical works are very much in demand, and the presence in Peking of their salesmen must be tolerated. Foreigners are also being hired as language teachers, since China's growing ties with the outside world create a demand for ever more interpreters. Even tourists have their place, since they bring valuable foreign exchange and on carefully limited tours they can be impressed by China's undoubted social and economic progress. But the attitude of the Chinese to the foreigner has hardly changed, and their methods of handling him are strikingly similar to those of previous dynasties. It was all summed up a century ago by the Emperor Hsien-feng: Everything must be handled calmly. Do not entertain . . . As the Chinese open their gates to more foreigners, they are also perfecting their methods of isolating and controlling each resident and visitor. As Ch'ien Lung told George III: Moreover, the territories ruled by the Celestial Empire In the last century the first foreign traders reaching Canton were isolated in their factories on Shameen Island, carefully separated from the rest of the city and allowed to deal only with a few selected junior officials. Today foreign residents in Peking are being steadily pushed into a similar segregation. Most of the language teachers and other foreign experts are housed far out in the western suburbs, behind guarded gates at the Druzbha, or Friendship Hostel. Built in happier days for the thousands of Soviet experts who flocked to Peking, this huge compound now has a funereal aspect. Whole wings are closed and in others teachers from Britain, France, and other European nations, as well as Africa and Latin America, lead cramped and isolated lives along the dark and dingy corridors. Closer to the center of town many of the foreign embassies established in the last fifteen years are grouped around the Wai Chiao Ta Lou-the Big Building for Foreigners. This is a huge complex of apartments where hundreds of diplomats and secretaries and a few correspondents manage to live in reasonable comfort. Farther out to the east and halfway to the airport is an area called San Li Tun. Here are the newer embassies-those of France and the African nations-as well as more apartment blocks. Here, too, the Chinese keep on building more embassies, confident that other nations will soon follow the lead of France in extending diplomatic recognition to Peking. A few of the more fortunate countries still keep embassies and homes in the heart of Peking. Many of these are along Legation Street, a narrow road of much atmosphere and charm just inside the southern city wall, lined with silk-flower trees and horsetail-flower trees. This was the heart of the old Legation Quarter, the privileged preserve of foreigners under the last emperors. Here, at the turn of the century, the foreigners lined the walls to fight off the ferocious Boxer rebels, who were egged on by the Empress Dowager in a last desperate attempt to drive out all the Barbarians, only to be defeated by an international relief force that sacked the Forbidden City and sent old Buddha fleeing as far as Sian. Still resentful of these past humiliations, Chinese officials are slowly squeezing out the few remaining foreign missions; in a few years all will be in San Li Tun. . . . It clearly suits the Chinese to have all the foreigners segregated in well-defined areas. This scheme has one great merit aside from its tidiness: it makes it more difficult for the foreigner to have any contact with the Chinese people. Officials spend much time preventing such contacts, partly to shield their people from the contamination of foreign ideas, partly to keep the foreigner from finding out too much about what is really happening around him. In this the Chinese follow |