Word: chou
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Warning provoked surprisingly little home-front criticism. And the message got through to Peking. Within two days, while the Reds eased off on their artillery barrages against Quemoy, Premier Chou En-lai picked up the Dulles proposal to negotiate, called for new diplomatic talks at the ambassadorial level...
News reports of Chou's offer reached the White House just before the President flew into Washington for the day from Newport. After a two-hour luncheon session with all available National Security Council members, he and Dulles drafted a reply. Jacob Beam, U.S. Ambassador to Warsaw, was available to reopen talks with his Chinese opposite number, they wrote. "If the Chinese Communists are now prepared to respond, the United States welcomes that decision . . . Naturally ... we will not in these talks be a party to any arrangement which would prejudice the rights of our ally, the Republic of China...
...allies fretted over the risks being run by Washington, Communist China abruptly changed tactics. After an emergency meeting of the Supreme State Council, Peking grandiloquently ordered a "general mobilization" of China's 600 million people "for the struggle against war provocations by the American imperialists." But simultaneously, Premier Chou En-lai announced that, "to settle the Sino-American dispute in the Taiwan area . . . the Chinese government is prepared to resume ambassador-level talks [with the U.S.]." Furthermore, added Chou, Peking had "voluntarily" decided to suspend bombardment of the offshore islands "to give Chiang Kai-shek's troops...
...most capitals Chou's message and the U.S. response evoked sighs of relief. But one stern voice continued to remind the world that if Peking had indeed decided to loosen the screws for the time being, it would surely tighten them again one day. Asked what he thought Red intentions in the Formosa Strait really were, Chiang Kai-shek replied: "Their ultimate intention is to seize Taiwan...
...from the Gimo's home province of Chekiang, first caught his boss's eye after he was wounded fighting in the Canton army in 1923. Chiang made him an artillery instructor at Whampoa Military Academy (Chen took an instant dislike to a flashy young political instructor named Chou En-lai), then gave him the toughest combat assignments. Told to make order out of the postwar mess in Manchuria, Chen invited Manchurians to bring their complaints straight to him, and reportedly had 20 generals shot for stealing. Invalided south for a series of stomach-ulcer operations, he was ordered...