Cable from the Chinese Embassy in Moscow, 'The Circumstances of Ambassador Pan’s Attendance of an Ambassador's Gathering'

Cable Received by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Urgent / Moscow Desk / (64) No. 428

The Circumstances of Ambassador Pan's Attendance of an Ambassador's Gathering

To the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Liaison Department:

At 5 in the evening on 7 [May], the Ambassador from the German Democratic Republic held a gathering for ambassadors in commemoration of German independence. Ambassador Pan [Zili] and his wife accepted their invitation and were in attendance. [First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, Anastas] Mikoyan, [First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, Dmitry] Polyansky, [Soviet state security officer and party statesman, Alexander] Shelepin, etc. were in attendance. During the German ambassador’s toast, he made some oblique attacks against our party, saying grandiosely that friendship with the Soviet Union was the touchstone of every communist party, that East Germany continued to stand with the Soviet Communist Party in opposition of fragmentary behavior, etc. Mikoyan, in his unscripted remarks, did not broach the topic of the socialist infantry and the international movement, nor did he make insinuations about our party.

After both sides made speeches, a few envoys departed. We were also in another room preparing to leave, when the German ambassador and his wife came to invite Ambassador Pan to the seat for the guest of honor, saying that it was Mr. Mikoyan who had requested to see him.

Mikoyan once struck a friendly attitude toward me. He once made a toast to Sino-Soviet friendship alongside [Defense Minister of the Soviet Union, Rodion] Malinovsky, Shelepin, and marshals from several countries.

“Our arguments and divergences should be over by now,” Mikoyan said. “In fact, the sooner they end, the better. When an objective situation is developing, it is not under human control. People can either speed up or delay the situation’s development. But our argument is subjective, man-made. The argument should be squelched as soon as possible.”

Mikoyan also said, “Then as now, we have been grateful [illegible] for the achievements of the Great People’s Republic of the Chinese People. We hope to restore our relations to where they were several years ago.”

“Our divergence with you is a temporary phenomenon,” Ambassador Pan indicated. “We hope that our divergence can still be resolved on the basis of Marxist-Leninism and proletarian internationalism.”

“Precisely,” Mikoyan said. “Divergence is a temporary phenomenon. And yet we should overcome divergence as quickly as possible. We should be diligent.”

“We should be diligent together,” Ambassador Pan said. “We deeply believe that our two parties, our two states, and our two peoples can be friends again.”

Later on, Mikoyan changed the subject to discuss with Ambassador Pan the trip to Japan on the 12^th by the representative group from the Soviet Parliament. He said that his job was to work in politics, not parliamentary matters. Nonetheless, he had been called to attend. After all, he had already been the highest Soviet representative for forty-five years, so he believed he was capable of being a representative.

“You are capable of representing the parliament,” said Ambassador Pan, “as well as the government, and the Party.”

“This time, I will just represent parliament,” Mikoyan said. He also said that he would be stopping over in Khabarovsk for one night, and that after a two week visit in Japan, he would spend one night in Vladivostok and then return to Moscow.

Mikoyan also mentioned, in the presence of the East German ambassador, that he had been in East Germany not long before to attend [Prime Minister of East Germany, Otto] Grotewohl’s birthday celebration. He said that East German workers were harder working than before. Before, there had been a West Berlin, and all eyes had been turned toward it. Now, the borders are closed, and they are simply devoted, all they do is go about their work. Presently at the border it is all East German officers. They can protect themselves. Soviet soldiers are in the hinterlands—they all wish to return home.

As Malinovsky shook hands with Ambassador Pan, he asked, “When will you all be signing the Moscow Treaty?”

“That is impossible,” Ambassador Pan replied.

[Chinese] Embassy in the Soviet Union

7 May 1964