«Friendship» or Aggression?

#PUBLICATION NOTE

This edition of «Friendship» or Aggression? has been prepared and revised for digital publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism under the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Switzerland on the basis of the following editions:

• «Friendship» or Aggression?, in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, First English Edition, Vol. 4, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1965.
• The Fifth Commentary on the White Paper, in Mao's Road to Power, First English Edition, Vol. 10, Routledge, New York and London, 2023.

#INTRODUCTION NOTE

This is a comment written by Comrade Mao Zedong for the New China News Agency in Beijing, China on the 30th of August, 1949. It was first published in the Renmin Ribao (31st of August, 1949).

This is part of a series of six comments on the White Paper of the US State Department and Dean Acheson's Letter of Transmittal. With the exception of the first comment, A Confession of Helplessness (12th of August, 1949), they were written by Comrade Mao Zedong to expose the imperialist nature of United States policy toward China, criticize the illusions about US imperialism harboured by some of the bourgeois intellectuals in China, and give a theoretical explanation of the reasons for the rise of the Chinese revolution and for its victory.

The US White Paper, US Relations with China, was published by the US State Department on the 5th of August, 1949. Acheson's Letter of Transmittal to President Truman was dated the 30th of July, 1949. The main body of the White Paper, divided into eight chapters, deals with Sino-US relations in the period from 1844, when the United States forced China to sign the «»Treaty of Wangxia», to 1949, when victory was fundamentally won throughout the country in the Chinese people's revolution. The White Paper goes into particular detail about how, in the five years from the last part of the War of Resistance Against Japan to 1949, the United States pursued a policy of support for Jiang Jieshi and of Anti-Communism, opposed the Chinese people by every possible means and finally met with defeat. The White Paper and Acheson's Letter of Transmittal are full of distortions, omissions, and fabrications, and also of venomous slanders and deep hatred against the Chinese people. In the quarrel within the US reactionary camp over its policy toward China, imperialists like Truman and Acheson were compelled to reveal publicly through the White Paper some of the truth about their counter-revolutionary activities in an attempt to convince their opponents. Thus, in its objective effect, the White Paper became a confession by US imperialism of its crimes of aggression against China.

#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!

#«FRIENDSHIP» OR AGGRESSION?

#FIFTH COMMENT ON THE U.S. WHITE PAPER

#Mao Zedong

#30th of August, 1949

#★

Seeking to justify aggression, Dean Acheson harps on «friendship» and throws in lots of «principles».

Acheson says:

The interest of the people and the Government of the United States in China goes far back into our history. Despite the distance and broad differences in background which separate China and the United States, our friendship for that country has always been intensified by the religious, philanthropic, and cultural ties which have united the two peoples, and has been attested by many acts of good will over a period of many years, including the use of the Boxer indemnity for the education of Chinese students, the abolition of extraterritoriality during the Second World War, and our extensive aid to China during and since the close of the War. The record shows that the United States has consistently maintained and still maintains those fundamental principles of our foreign policy toward China which include the doctrine of the Open Door, respect for the administrative and territorial integrity of China, and opposition to any foreign domination of China.

Acheson is telling a bare-faced lie when he describes aggression as «friendship».

The history of the aggression against China by US imperialism, from 1840 when it helped the British in the Opium War to the time it was thrown out of China by the Chinese people, should be written into a concise textbook for the education of Chinese youth. The United States was one of the first countries to force China to cede extraterritoriality¹ — witness the Treaty of Wangxia² of 1844, the first treaty ever signed between China and the United States, a treaty to which the White Paper refers. In this very treaty, the United States compelled China to accept American missionary activity, in addition to imposing such terms as the opening of five ports for trade. For a very long period, US imperialism laid greater stress than other imperialist countries on activities in the sphere of spiritual aggression, extending from religious to «philanthropic» and cultural undertakings. According to certain statistics, the investments of US missionary and «philanthropic» organizations in China totaled USD 41'900'000, and 14,7% of the assets of the missionary organizations were in medical service, 38,2% in education, and 47,1% in religious activities.³ Many well-known educational institutions in China, such as Yanjing University, Beijing Union Medical College, the Huiwen Academies, St. John's University, the University of Nanjing, Suzhou University, Hangzhou Christian College, Xiangya Medical School, West China Union University, and Lingnan University, were established by Americans.⁴ It was in this field that Leighton Stuart made a name for himself; that was how he became US Ambassador to China. Acheson and his like know what they are talking about, and there is a background for his statement that «our friendship for that country has always been intensified by the religious, philanthropic, and cultural ties which have united the two peoples». It was all for the sake of «intensifying friendship», we are told, that the United States worked so hard and deliberately at running these undertakings for 105 years after the signing of the Treaty of 1844.

Participation in the Eight-Power Allied Expedition to defeat China in 1900, the extortion of the «Boxer indemnity», and the later use of this fund «for the education of Chinese students» for purposes of spiritual aggression — this, too, counts as an expression of «friendship».

Despite the «abolition» of extraterritoriality, the culprit in the rape of Shen Chong was declared not guilty and released by the US Navy Department on his return to the United States⁵ — this counts as another expression of «friendship».

«Aid to China during and since the close of the War», totaling over USD 4'500'000'000 according to the White Paper, but over USD 5'914'000'000 according to our computation, was given to help Jiang Jieshi slaughter several million Chinese — this counts as yet another expression of «friendship».

All the «friendship» shown to China by US imperialism over the past 109 years (since 1840, when the United States collaborated with Britain in the Opium War), and especially the great act of «friendship» in helping Jiang Jieshi slaughter several million Chinese in the last few years — all this had one purpose, namely, it «consistently maintained and still maintains those fundamental principles of our foreign policy toward China which include the doctrine of the Open Door, respect for the administrative and territorial integrity of China, and opposition to any foreign domination of China».

Several million Chinese were killed for no other purpose than first, to maintain the Open Door, second, to respect the administrative and territorial integrity of China, and, third, to oppose any foreign domination of China.

Today, the only doors still open to Acheson and his like are in small strips of land, such as Guangzhou and Taiwan, and only in these places is the first of these sacred principles «still maintained». In other places, in Shanghai, for instance, the door was open after Liberation, but now someone is using US warships and their big guns and shells to enforce the far from sacred principle of the Blockaded Door.

Today, it is only in small strips of land, such as Guangzhou and Taiwan, that, thanks to Acheson's second sacred principle, administrative and territorial «integrity» is «still maintained». All other places are out of luck, and administration and territory have fallen to pieces.

Today, it is only in places such as Guangzhou and Taiwan that, thanks to Acheson's third sacred principle, all «foreign domination», including US domination, has been successfully done away with through the «opposition» of Acheson and his like; therefore, such places are still dominated by the Chinese. The rest of the land of China — the mere mention makes one weep — is all gone, all dominated by foreigners, and the Chinese there have one and all been turned into slaves. Up to this point in his writing, His Excellency Dean Acheson did not have time to indicate what country these foreigners came from, but it becomes clear as one reads on, so there is no need to ask.

Whether non-interference in China's domestic affairs also counts as a principle, Acheson didn't say; probably it does not. Such is the logic of the US mandarins. Anyone who reads Acheson's Letter of Transmittal to the end will attest to its superior logic.