In the first years, Deng Xiaoping had given this advice to his countrymen: 'Keep cool-headed to observe, be composed to make reactions, stand firmly, hide our capabilities and bide our time, never try to take the lead, and be able to accomplish something.'
Mao Zedong's death in September 1976 had brought winds of change and ushered the beginning of a new era for China. Deng formalised it.
Those who had suffered the brutal repression of Mao's follies during the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward began dreaming of a brighter and more harmonious future.
Soon after Jiang Qing, Mao's disgruntled widow, and her colleagues, who were known as the Gang of Four, had been forcibly removed, Deng walked onto the political stage. He had himself suffered, been 'purged' and disgraced several times. The years which followed Deng's return were years of hope for the people of China.
Things moved very fast after the Third Plenum.
On January 1, 1979 the United States officially recognised the People's Republic of China.
At the end of the month, Deng made a historic trip to the United States. Richard Holbrooke, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, recently wrote in The Washington Post: 'At Zbig's (Brzezinski) house, Deng ...was ready to cooperate on containing the Soviet Union, even agreeing to the installation of secret American intelligence listening posts along the Chinese border to track Soviet missiles.'
Deng later met US President Jimmy Carter. A joint press communique demonstrated the revolutionary changes in the offing: 'Both sides are of the view that differences in social systems of the two countries should not impede the enhancement of mutual friendly relations and mutual cooperation.'
He also wanted to move fast to solve certain problems inherited from the past -- primarily the Tibet question.
In November/December 1978, Li Ju-sheng, a Deng confidant (designated as 'Xinhua Director No 2' in Hong Kong) met Gyalo Thondup, the Dalai Lama's elder brother, several times in the then British colony.
The encounters lasted five or six weeks, at the end of which Li recommended to Deng to invite Thondup for further talks in Beijing. Thondup reported the offer to his brother, who gave his green light.
Image: A Tibetan exile shouts pro-freedom slogans in Dharamsala, August 7, 2008. The poster reads, 'Release political prisoners.' Photograph: Abhishek Madhukar/Reuters
Also read: 'Mao made us free, Deng made us happy'
Advertisement
