China and Panama: The Connection New York, Aug. 29—Some will recall the landing of President Nixon in Peking in February of 1972. The Chinese know how to fine-tune their hospitality, and on this occasion the eighty reporters (that was the limit imposed by the Chinese authorities) rushed to the airport to be present for the historic landing. We looked about for the expected crowds. There was no one—a small honor guard, a few dozen Chinese officials including Chou Enlai (not Mao Tse-tung). To one reporter who expressed amazement at the insolently meager reception, another one cracked: “But don’t you understand? That’s all the Chinese that were left after the Cultural Revolution.”
In the days ahead, things warmed up, particularly after Mao Tse-tung consented to meet briefly with Nixon, and the papers the next day featured photographs of the baptismal encounter. Mr. Nixon went on, in the toasts he delivered on the ensuing evenings, to compare Mao Tse-tung to the rising sun, the full moon, and the aurora borealis. Granted Mao had heard these comparisons made about himself before, but in these matters redundancy does not matter. Indeed, as fate would have it, within a very few years Richard Nixon had arrived at a political station whence he would find it difficult to get an appointment with the mayor of San Diego. But Mao Tse-tung sent over his own jet to bring Nixon back to Peking for another visit.
Comments