Summary of Conversation between Mao Zedong and the Delegation of the People's Republic of the Congo

20 July [1970]

In the afternoon, there was a meeting with a State Council delegation from the People's Republic of the Congo led by Vice President Alfred Raoul at Room 118 of the Great Hall of the People and attended by Lin Biao, Dong Biwu, Zhou Enlai, Chen Boda, Kang Sheng, etc.

Raoul said: We are surrounded by countries that are close to the imperialists.

Mao Zedong said: (Your situation) is slightly better than ours. (Look at) the number of troops that the American imperialists have sent to the Pacific and Asia! There are Soviet people at the Sino-Soviet border who say that there are 45 divisions, and there are those who say that there are 70 divisions.

Raoul said: Congo will still be under the economic control of the imperialists.

Mao Zedong said: This situation of control is common in most African countries, and some countries willingly subject themselves to control. However, Africa today is unlike what it was 25 years ago. Africa can be our friend. Some countries must join forces in order to deal with the imperialists, others would not be afraid of you if you do not join forces. There is difficulty in joining forces for now, but the overall trend points to the joining of forces.

Raoul said: America’s propaganda can now no longer deceive the African masses.

Mao Zedong said: It can still deceive some. If it is completely unable to deceive anyone, I think there would not be many tasks left for us. We can all take a big nap. We are standing on the side of the African people who are against imperialism, and we openly say so everyday in the newspapers and on radio. Thus, we are all happy if you do something good. You support us and the people in the whole of Africa support the revolutionary people in Asia, and we help each other.

Raoul said: We learn many things from China.

Mao Zedong said: Perhaps a little, but not many. You should not go down the same winding path that we took. There are too many people in China, which is incongruous with economic development. You are now worried about your economy, and we are also fretting over how to boost our economy a little. It would not hurt you if we boost our economy a little. It is not a matter of making a few atomic bombs or launching one or two satellites to boost the economy. That is very pathetic. There are many manmade satellites orbiting in the sky above, and they all belong to the United States and the Soviet Union. Then came the French and Japanese satellites and it was just recently that China launched one satellite. Within these two decades, we made many mistakes and are getting slightly better now and improving a little. Perhaps things will get better in another two decades.

When sending the guests off to the door, Mao Zedong repeated: You should not go down the same winding path that we took.