Zhou Enlai (1898 – 1976)
Prominent Chinese Communist leader, was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, from 1949 until his death.
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For us, it is all right if the talks succeed, and it is all right if they fail.
Nikita Khrushchev: The difference between the Soviet Union and China is that I rose to power from the peasant class, whereas you came from the privileged Mandarin class.
Zhou: True. But there is this similarity. Each of us is a traitor to his class.
We shall use only peaceful means and we shall not permit any other kind of method.
All diplomacy is a continuation of war by other means.
China is an attractive piece of meat coveted by all … but very tough, and for years no one has been able to bite into it.
Mao dominated any gathering; Zhou suffused it. Mao's passion strove to overwhelm opposition; Zhou's intellect would seek to persuade or outmaneuver it. Mao was sardonic; Zhou penetrating. Mao thought of himself as a philosopher; Zhou saw his role as an administrator or a negotiator. Mao was eager to accelerate history; Zhou was content to exploit its currents.
China and North Vietnam are closely united to each other, like the lips and the teeth.
The more troops they send to Vietnam, the happier we will be, for we feel that we shall have them in our power, we can have their blood. So if you want to help the Vietnamese you should encourage the Americans to throw more and more soldiers into Vietnam. We want them there. They will be close to China. And they will be in our grasp. They will be so close to us, they will be our hostages. ... We are planting the best kind of opium especially for the American soldiers in Vietnam.
It is a little bit humiliating when I have to say that Chou En-lai to me appears as the most superior brain I have so far met in the field of foreign politics... so much more dangerous than you imagine because he is so much better a man than you have ever admitted.
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