Making Friends in Peking

China's leaders welcome Brzezinski's anti-Soviet message

Last one to the top fights the Russians in Ethiopia!" ebulliently shouted U.S. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski last week as he led his Chinese hosts on an impromptu foot race at the Great Wall. He won, then stood next to a group of bemused Chinese sailors to have his picture taken. "Do you know you are posing with an imperialist?" he joked. Not so, said the well-coached sailors. "We are having a photograph taken with the polar-bear tamer."

The sailors' response was intended to reflect China's priorities in foreign affairs these days, and it typified the tone of Brzezinski's three-day visit to Peking. Filled with good will and banter, the talks nevertheless carried a strong and serious anti-Soviet message. Brzezinski tried to keep this theme from raising Soviet anxieties too high, but he did not mind lifting them a little. "I do not want to suggest that there was congruity or the shaping of some sort of alliance," he carefully explained after his return to Washington. "But there was a recognition of a certain parallelism of interest."

During 14 hours of private talks, both sides avoided dwelling on the issues that sharply divide them, chiefly the status of Taiwan and Jimmy Carter's views on human rights. Instead, they concentrated on the strategic importance of their own relationship. Said Brzezinski: "I emphasized that our approach to China reflects a long-term view of how we wish to see the world unfold. A strong China is in our best national interests."

Soon after arriving in Peking, Brzezinski met with Chinese Foreign Minister Huang Hua for 2 1/2 hours at the Great Hall of the People on T'ien An Men Square. While U.S. and Chinese officials furiously scribbled notes, Brzezinski in his staccato voice outlined the American view of global problems, particularly concerning Soviet moves in Africa and the Middle East. He described Soviet policies in Africa as "stupid" and predicted that Moscow's relations on the continent would worsen. Pulling out maps and multicolored charts, he analyzed the world strategic balance, insisting that the U.S. was growing stronger, while world political and social trends were running against the Soviets. He even briefed his hosts on new U.S. weapons systems. His point was to show that the SALT talks between Washington and Moscow do not indicate weakness on the part of the U.S., which is how China has viewed them, but rather a strong America's effort to stabilize nuclear arsenals.

Next day Brzezinski again met with Huang and later with Vice Premier Teng Hsiao-ping and Chairman Hua Kuo-feng. Brzezinski and his hosts agreed to keep details of the talks confidential, but TIME has learned that he called on the Chinese to use their influence to help counter Soviet moves in Africa. He specifically asked them to urge Robert Mugabe, one of the leaders of the Patriotic Front in Rhodesia, to be more flexible on the Anglo-American plan for bringing majority rule to the country. Brzezinski and the Chinese leaders also discussed their governments' mutual interest in countering political instability in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

At banquets, anti-Soviet remarks burst out from all sides. During the welcoming dinner, Huang declared in his official toast: "Social imperialism [meaning the U.S.S.R.] is feverishly expanding its armaments, preparing for war and engaging in expansion and aggression everywhere with the aim of seizing world hegemony." Replied Brzezinski: "Only those aspiring to dominate others have any reason to fear the further development of American-Chinese relations." Then he downed a glass of fiery mao-tai.

At the final banquet, Brzezinski delighted his guests by reciting an anti-Soviet poem written by Mao Tse-tung in 1963. As the officials and their wives chanted along with him in Chinese, Brzezinski read (in English):

Ants on the locust tree assume a

great-nation swagger And Mayflies lightly plot to topple

the giant tree...

Seize the day, seize the hour The four seas are rising, Clouds and waters raging The five continents are rocking, Wind and thunder roaring Our force is irresistible, away with

all pests.

On his arrival in Peking, Brzezinski had toasted "friendship." In his final toast, he lauded "friendship and normalization" and called the combination "vital." It was a clue to U.S. intentions that no Chinese could have missed. With the two countries still at odds over Taiwan, there was no sign that the good will generated by the trip had moved them any closer to establishing normal diplomatic relations. Still, that seemed to matter less last week than it has in some time.

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