CHINA'S WORLD
WHILE answering questions after his Speech at Chatham House last week, the Chinese premier Zhao Ziyang gave us a fine taste of the Chinese view of the world. Asked if the Chinese position in foreign Policy was equidistant between the United States and the Soviet Union, Mr Ziyang replied that on each specific issue Chinese leaders ask themselves: 'Is this favourable to world peace and favourable to the fundamental interests of world people?' When he had talked a great deal more about the fundamental interests of world Peace and world people, someone rudely asked him if China's leaders never make decisions on the basis of their own national interests. 'Well,' replied the resourceful Mr Ziyang, 'that was an oversight on my part.' He should have mentioned that of course they first consider the fundamental interests of Chinese people, and then the fundamental interests of world people. But,' he confided, 'it is very difficult for me to see any difference between the two.' When the Chinese replace the Russians as the Great Red Power in the East, we shall obviously have to deal with a still more slippery customer, and a still more invinci- ble self-rightousness.
Previous page
