156 { China’s Quest
Biao, Peng Zhen, and Liu Shaoqi all took a shot. These angry challenges by
China’s second-tier leaders led Khrushchev to charge Chinese leaders with
arrogance:
Khrushchev: “Aren’t you talking to us too haughtily?.... You do not
tolerate objections, you believe you are orthodox, and this is where
your haughtiness reveals itself. ... You want to subjugate us to yourself,
but nothing will come of it, we are also a party and have our own way.”
[Chen Yi became especially agitated, charging the Soviets with being
“time-servers,” i.e., opportunists.]
Khrushchev: If you consider us time servers, Comrade Chen Yi, then
do not offer me your hand. I will not accept it.
Chen: Neither will I. I must tell you I am not afraid of your fury.
Khrushchev: You should not spit from the height of your Marshal
title. You do not have enough spit. We cannot be intimidated. What a
pretty situation we have. On one side, you use the formula “headed by
the Soviet Union.” On the other hand, you do not let me say a word.
What kind of equality can we talk about?^19
When Mao tried toward the end of the discussion to turn the discussion
to Laos, where China had major and real security interests, Khrushchev
replied: “Good, let us do this, but I have not [the] slightest interest in this
matter, for this is a very insignificant matter, and there is much noise about
it.” Mao then concluded the discussion by reiterating that in August 1958 “we
did not intend at all to undertake any kind of large-scale military actions
there.” Conveying that message to his Soviet ally two weeks before opening
fire rather than a year after would perhaps have had a very different effect.
Khrushchev had planned a seven-day stay in Beijing, but left after
three days.^20
Mao sensed that a break was imminent and did not want to bear the blame
for it. After this final acrimonious confrontation with Khrushchev, Mao but-
tonholed the Soviet chargé Sergei Antonov and told him that CCP-CPSU dif-
ferences were only “one half finger” out of ten, that Khrushchev spoke very
“firmly and correctly” about Taiwan in his talks with Eisenhower, and that
China’s bombardment of the Offshores had assisted the Soviets in Berlin and
elsewhere in Europe.Intensified Polemical Combat and the Withdrawal
of Soviet AdvisorsIn January 1960, the CCP Politburo met to discuss relations with the United
States and the Soviet Union. In spite of the serious problems associated with
“food supply” (i.e., the famine sweeping the country) and in spite of the