MEMORANDUM
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
INFORMATION
November 28, 1974
SECRET/SENSITIVE
| MEMORANDUM FOR: | THE PRESIDENT |
| FROM: | BRENT SCOWCROFT |
The Secretary asked that I pass you the following report of his Wednesday afternoon meeting:
"I held another meeting with Vice Premier Teng Hsiao-P'ing at the Great Hall of the People Wednesday afternoon which lasted for two and a quarter hours. He outlined various Chinese positions in a general tour d'horizon of international issues. He demonstrated across the board continuity on Chinese international policies, with the central theme once again being Soviet hegemony and ways to counter it. The difference from our talks with Chou lay in the manner of presentation, with Teng staying within carefully framed positions and reluctant to engage in extensive philosophic excursions or to get into uncharted areas. The Vice Premier did liven up considerably and presented the Chinese position competently and sometimes humorously but he has none of Chou's elegance, flair, breadth or subtlety -- though admittedly Chou represents a very high standard. He quoted Chairman Mao with great frequency as have all Chinese interlocutors during the past year. There has been only very occasional reference to Chou during this trip.
"Teng began by stressing the importance of good relations among the US, Europe and Japan, just as Chairman Mao did a year ago. He said that we need these allies to deal effectively with the Russian 'power bear.' I agreed with him that we had to work together on a basis of equal partnership, underlining the improvement of our allied relations during the past year and said that your forthcoming meeting with Schmidt and Giscard should make further progress. I told him China's emphasizing to European leaders the need for allied unity has been very helpful. Like Mao and Chou before him, Teng showed contempt for the left in European politics, saying that China preferred conservatives. I pointed out the danger of Moscow controlled communist parties gaining power in Europe, but we agreed that even if this were to happen, it would only be a short term phenomenon. I said that the MBFR negotiations were
SECRET/SENSITIVE
DECLASSIFIED
E.O. 12958 Sec. 3.6
MR97-7, #29; NSC letter 12/5/97
By Ut NARA, Date 1/20/98
