Mike Wallace's interview with Deng Xiaoping
Updated: 2014-08-21 21:42
(chinadaily.com.cn)
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Wallace: So far, I have never seen a picture of you in a public place in China; why?
Deng: We do not encourage that. Any individual is a member of the collective. Nothing
can be accomplished by an individual in isolation from others. Personally, I have all
along rejected offers to write my biography. Over the years, I have done quite a few good
things, but I have done some wrong things, too. Before the "cultural revolution", we
made such mistakes as the Great Leap Forward. Of course, I was not the principal
advocate of that policy, but I did not oppose it either. That means I had a share in that
mistake. If a biography is written, it should include both good and bad things, even the
mistakes one has made.
Wallace: Two questions. You say you would like to live to the age of one hundred and
then go to visit Karl Marx; maybe Mao Zedong will be seated by his side. What do you
think those two gentlemen will have to say to you, Deng Xiaoping, when you are up
there.
Deng: I am a Marxist. I have consistently followed the fundamental principles of
Marxism. Marxism is also known as communism. We made the revolution, seized
political power and founded the People's Republic of China because we had this faith and
this ideal. Because we had our ideal, and because we integrated the fundamental
principles of Marxism with the concrete practice of China, we were able to win. Since
our victory in the revolution, in the course of construction we have again integrated the
fundamental principles of Marxism with the concrete practice of China. We are striving
for the four modernizations, but people tend to forget that they are four socialist
modernizations. This is what we are doing today.
Wallace: Everybody is asking this question: in the last few years Deng Xiaoping has done
a good job - he's done a good job in modernization, the economy is developing, people
are not as afraid as they used to be - but after Deng Xiaoping is gone, what will happen?
They wonder whether things will go back to the way they were before.
Deng: Certainly there will be no turning back. If you want to find out whether the present
policies are here to stay, you should first examine whether the policies are correct,
whether they are right for the country and the people and whether the life of the people is
gradually improving under them. I believe that the people are discerning. If the present
policies are altered, their standard of living will definitely fall. So long as the people
think the present policies are correct, anyone who wants to change them will be brought
down.
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