[This issue of Peking Review is from massline.org. Massline.org has kindly given us permission to to place these documents on the MIA. We made only some formatting changes to make them congruent with our style sheets.]
[This article is reprinted from Peking Review,
Vol. 9, #9, Feb. 25, 1966, pp. 8-11.]
WILLIAM Bundy, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs, delivered a lengthy speech on February 12 called “The United States and Communist China.” It is valuable material and warrants careful study as it testifies to U.S. imperialism’s resolve to remain the enemy of the Chinese people to the very end and reveals its intentions to step up aggression and widen the war in Asia.
Bundy plainly declared in his speech that China is America’s “great enemy” and is “the most serious and perplexing problem that confronts [U.S.] foreign policy,” that the objectives of the United States and China are “totally antithetic” in Asia and throughout the world, and that the United States has “little alternative but to stand up to” China and “meet [China] with firmness.” He blustered that United States power “is fundamental” in dealing with China and that “what we [U.S.] are trying to do” in Asia is the “containment” of China.
U.S. imperialism sees in China the biggest obstacle in the way of its world domination. Its inveterate hatred for and implacable enmity towards the Chinese people is itself evidence that the Chinese people are among the most revolutionary and most progressive. Otherwise, U.S. imperialism would not be opposing us as it is doing now. To be opposed by our enemy is not a bad thing; it adds to our honour.
A Question in People’s Minds. Nevertheless, every thinking person wants to know why the United States has “little alternative” but to fight it out with China, since the two countries, separated by the Pacific, are thousands of miles apart and since China does not have a single soldier in the United States nor a single military base in its vicinity.
Bundy’s answer is that China pursues a “deeply expansionist” policy and seeks “a fairly total form of domination and control in areas contiguous to it,” while the United States wants to “preserve” the “freedom and independence” of the Asian nations and help them towards “development and growth.”
Of course, it requires no more effort than some fast talking for Bundy to depict China as the aggressor in Asia and present the United States as the guardian of the continent. Yet he cannot possibly alter or wipe out the hard facts and make the Asian peoples believe that it is China, not U.S. imperialism, which is the aggressor.
Who occupied south Korea and unleashed the war of aggression against Korea and is still hanging on there today, U.S. imperialism or China? Who has placed Japan under its control, converted that country into one of its bases for nuclear war in the Far East, and held on to Okinawa as its own territory, U.S. imperialism or China? Who is engaged in military intervention in Laos and in subversive activities and incursions against Cambodia, U.S. imperialism or China? Who has built military bases and stationed aggressor forces in a host of Asian countries, infringed upon their sovereignty and menaced their security, U.S. imperialism or China?
While Bundy talked volubly from a college platform in California, thousands of block-busters rained down on the soil of Vietnam. From whose planes were these bombs released? At the same time, more than 200,000 troops were fighting a massive war of aggression in that country, using all types of up-to-date weapons. To which country do those troops belong? It would indeed be very difficult for the U.S. imperialist aggressor, dripping with the blood of the Vietnamese and other Asian peoples, to turn itself into their saviour.
Posing as a historian, this creature of imperialism, Bundy, said that China now sought “to restore” itself to “its past position of grandeur” under the old emperors. This is the “valid evidence of [China’s] Asian ambitions” he offered.
What “valid evidence”! Bundy tried to be clever, but ended up by exhibiting the fool in him. The fact that he had to turn to history books for “valid evidence” of China’s “expansionist” activities attests to the fact that he could not find any in real life today.
Evidence of History. But Bundy is a poor historian. Why did he steer clear of the Chinese history of the last hundred years? As everybody knows, the 109 years’ history of China from 1840 to 1949 is a blood-soaked record of aggression, dismemberment, enslavement and exploitation by the imperialist powers, including the United States. Up to now, U.S. imperialism is still occupying China’s territory, Taiwan. China is still subject to U.S. imperialist aggression. China’s experience is also the common experience of many countries of Asia. Both history and reality have supplied “valid evidence” to U.S. imperialism’s aggression against and expansion into China and various other Asian countries.
Bundy himself must have also realized that his offhand treatment of history cannot prove anything. So he pulled out further “evidence” by declaring that China “is inspired by a communist ideology” and “advocates change through revolution and violence throughout the world and particularly neighbouring areas.”
What does he mean? If Mr. Bundy means to imply that China is the maker of all revolutions in every part of the world, and of Asia in particular, then he is giving us more credit than is our due. He is overdoing the propaganda for the Chinese Communist Party. In fact all this credit should go to the United States. How can we claim it? It is precisely U.S. aggression, intervention and enslavement that has kindled the flames of the people’s anti-U.S. struggle on the Asian continent. It is precisely American aggression that has caused the south Vietnamese people to wage their revolutionary struggle so fiercely, the Thailand people to raise the anti-U.S. torch, the people of Leopoldville Congo far away in Africa and those of the Dominican Republic within a stone’s throw of the United States to engage in anti-U.S. struggles. U.S. imperialism wants to forbid the people of the world to make revolution. It wants all oppressed nations and people to put up with their status quo as slaves and remain oppressed. But this cannot be. The United States itself won its independence after having cast off British colonial yoke by violence. Why can’t the people of Asia and other parts of the world do what the American people rightly did 190 years ago? Why should it be called Chinese “aggression” and “expansion” when the peoples of Asia and the world are rising up in revolution?
Where there is imperialist aggression, there is resistance by the oppressed people and nations. All revolutionary people are eager to find a path to their own liberation. The path of the Chinese people is also the one that they want to take. China’s influence spreads far and wide exactly because all of us share a common experience and destiny. U.S. imperialism is wasting its time by trying to “contain” China, just as a blind man is wasting a candle by lighting it.
But Bundy tries to pin the charges of “aggression” and “expansion” on China to justify the U.S. policy of “containing China.” He said that the “essence” of what the United States is “trying to do” is “containment,” “containment that depends upon the performance of the Asian nations themselves.” He said plainly: “Today there cannot be an effective deterrent military force, and thus a balance of power, around China’s frontiers without major and direct military contributions by the United States.”
What is meant by “containment”? And what is meant by the “containment of China” by the United States together with Asian countries? This means two things. First, U.S. imperialism is tightening its military encirclement of China and preparing to launch an armed attack against it. Second, in the name of “containing China,” U.S. imperialism attempts to control the Asian countries around China and enslave their peoples. Whenever the people of these countries rise up in resistance, U.S. imperialism will, again in the name of “containing China,” carry out armed repression against them. U.S. imperialism not only wants to turn the Asian countries into its military bases and colonies but also wants to line them up in its anti-China front and enlist them as pawns in its anti-China game. This is the essence of the “containment” of China that Bundy refers to.
“Balance of Power” a Pretext. What does he mean by a “balance of power”? This is pure imperialist logic. It serves as a pretext at all times for aggression. According to Bundy, to establish a “balance of power,” the United States can send troops to Asia. If this is so, can Asian countries, too, send troops to the Americas to establish a “balance of power”? Following this logic, can any country in the world send troops to any place to establish a “balance of power”? Will this not turn the world upside down? The fact that Bundy talked like this simply means that U.S. imperialism is bent on its aggression in Asia and will cling on there, and that it is going to send more troops to the Asian countries to extend its aggression in Asia.
Bundy said the United States and China are “antithetic” throughout the world. This is indeed the case. The counter-revolutionary global strategy of U.S. imperialism is to subject all countries in the world, big or small, to its aggression, control, intervention and bullying and to sabotage and suppress the revolutionary movements of the peoples so as to build an empire bigger than any history has ever seen. Just as the noted British philosopher Prof. Bertrand Russell has said: “In the course of history there have been many cruel and rapacious empires and systems of imperialist exploitation, but none before have had the power at the disposal of United States imperialists.” U.S. imperialism is not only the enemy of the Chinese people, but also the common enemy of people the world over. Proceeding from Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism, the Chinese people have always supported the anti-imperialist revolutionary struggle of the oppressed nations and people in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the world as a whole. Wherever there is struggle against U.S. imperialism and its lackeys, the Chinese people never fail to lend their support. This stand of the Chinese people will not be altered, whatever the circumstances. This is in fact the true reason why U.S. imperialism hates China so bitterly.
Food for Thought. There is a passage in Bundy’s speech which gives much food for thought. He said: “There is, to a very high degree, a valid parallel between the situation we continue to face vis-a-vis communist China and that we faced with the Soviet Union after the war.” He added that since 1955, the Soviet Union has become “moderate.” Bundy gnashes his teeth over China but pats the Soviet leaders on the back. Is this fortuitous? Of course not. The Soviet leaders are in fact not just “moderate.” They have long betrayed the people of the whole world and become U.S. imperialism’s accomplices and qualified lieutenants in its efforts to “contain” China.
Bundy’s long speech makes it abundantly clear that U.S. imperialism is gradually shifting the focus of its global strategy from Europe to Asia. Its military strength now deployed in Asia and the West Pacific exceeds that in Europe, and is directed against China. U.S. ruling circles have threatened time and again that, sooner or later, the United States will have to fight it out with China. This is sufficient evidence that U.S. imperialism now regards China as its main enemy.
However, this change of strategy does not mean that U.S. imperialism has grown in strength, but that it is finding itself in untold difficulties. It does not mean that it has found a way out, but that it is struggling in desperation. In the present-day world, it is not China that is encircled. It is U.S. imperialism that is heavily besieged by the people of the world. U.S. imperialism may shift the focus of its strategy to whatever place it likes, but it can never avert its doom.
Liu Tsung-yuan, a great man of letters of the Tang Dynasty, in his essay on “The Enemy,” said: “Everybody knows that the enemy is hateful, but not that he is also most useful; that he is harmful, but not that he is also most beneficial.” The Chinese people have a great enemy—U.S. imperialism. This enemy is indeed most hateful and harmful to us, but we must see that its existence has also a beneficial effect on us. To have a ferocious enemy like U.S. imperialism glowering at us and threatening us day and night will make us Chinese people always bear in mind the danger of war while living in peace and redouble our vigilance. It will make us work harder to build a strong and prosperous country. And it will keep us always on the alert and sharpen our fighting spirit. Wanton U.S. imperialist aggression and intimidation can further raise our political consciousness, strengthen our unity and enhance our combat readiness. Should U.S. imperialism dare attack China, it will be courting doom!
(“Renmin Ribao,” February 20.)
Peking Review Index | Chinese Communism | Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung