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Document Friday: My Meeting with Chairman Mao

Kissinger Meets Mao by Oliver Atkins

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Chairman Mao, apparently, was a night owl. At 11:30 PM on

17 February 1973, he called for Secretary of State Kissinger
to meet him at his residence in Beijing. The two statesmens
jovial conversation meandered until 1:30 the next morning.
After the meeting, Kissinger composed todays hot doc, My
Meeting with Chairman Mao, an eyes only summary for the
President. Kissinger painted the elderly dictator in very
favorable light, noting that he radiates authority and deep
wisdom, even proclaiming that the rotund despot was large
rather than fat.

As the two statesmen began their meeting, Mao alluded to his own mortality, telling Kissinger that God
has sent me an invitation. Still, Kissinger observed Maos firm grasp on the Peoples Republic, writing
there is no question who is boss. Soon, the two got down to business. They agreed that since Nixons
1971 visit to China, the basic issues [had been] settled. The two primarily discussed enhanced
Chinese-American cooperation as well as their combined opposition to Soviet expansion. Mao warned
Nixon that the goal of the Soviet Union is to occupy both Europe and Asia, and opined Kissinger not to
stand idly if the Soviet ill water would flow toward China.
As seen in an earlier hot doc, Kissingers conversations with foreign leaders were rarely without jousts, wit,
and humor. His meeting with Chairman Mao was not an exception. As the American stenographer
recorded the conversations of grand strategy, estimations of respective military might, and jokes of nuclear
war, he dutifully notated that laughter occurred no fewer than on thirty occasions and that Chairman Mao lit
and relit his cigar thrice. Mao, commenting on Kissingers shuttle diplomacy asked the Secretary, Are
you a swallow or a pigeon? Later, Kissinger pontificated that Hitler was a romantic. Certainly, however,
the most eyebrow raising exchange was Maos offer which he posed several times that he give the
United States 10 million Chinese women so that they could flood your country with disaster and therefore
impair your interests. Kissinger demurred.
Towards the end of the conversation Mao, presciently, acknowledged that Chinas future was tied to the
development of its youth. He bemoaned that there were truly too few English speakers in his country,
and was adamant that the Chinese government must do more to help its citizens learn English and
modernize themselves. It is unclear if modern Chinese citizens are allowed to practice their English by
googling this blog post. (If you have, leave a comment!!)

The same page declassified by different agencies. Left

declassified by State in 1997. Right "declassified" by
NARA in 2002.
Page 1 of 2

This document also illustrates suppression of information by

the American government. Much of this innocuous
conversation (including a reference to cigar relighting) was
dubiously over-redacted when it was released in 2002 by the
National Archives Nixon Presidential Materials Project.
Fortunately, the State Department had already declassified
and released this document in full five years earlier. This
wasteful over-redaction exemplifies the subjectivity and
over-zealousness often present in the American
declassification process, and also leaves researchers
wondering how often similar errors remain uncorrected.
May 16, 2016 12:04:28AM MDT

https://nsarchive.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/document-friday-my-meeting-with-chairman-mao/

As the two statesmen parted, Mao asked Kissinger if the derogatory words he had said about women
could be made nonexistent. Kissinger assured that they would be removed from the record. But both
wise men should have known better: its impossible to truly suppress the freedom of information.
Kissinger
Meets
Mao
by
Oliver
Atkins
The
same
page
declassified
by
different
agencies.
Left
declassified
by
State
in
1997.
Right
"declassified"
by
NARA
in
2002.

Page 2 of 2

May 16, 2016 12:04:28AM MDT