Discussion between Zhou Enlai, Chen Yi and Nguyen Duy Trinh

ZHOU ENLAI, CHEN YI AND NGUYEN DUY TRINH

Beijing, 2 p.m., 18 December 1965

Zhou Enlai: I don’t know of the position of the United States on other issues.  But for talks on the issue of Vietnam or China, they will even come to Hanoi or Beijing if we suggest [it].  Similarly, if we just hint that we want to talk with the U.S.  on the issue of Taiwan, they will come at once.

Chen Yi: We may hint that we can have talks on the question of South Vietnam and may agree to the presence of the US in South Vietnam.

Zhou Enlai: No, it is not like this.  We may agree to put aside the issue of the South, and they will come at once.  Should you just agree to have contacts, they will come.  If the conditions we propose are somehow less favorable for us, they will come more quickly.^[1]

^{[1] On December 28, the US launched a so-called “peace offensive” which was denounced by the DRV Foreign Ministry as a large-scale deception.}