30 June 1975

China, Thailand friends, Mao says Thai communists are nothing to fear

One day before relations between China and Thailand were officially normalised, China’s leader Chairman Mao Tse-tung told Thai Prime Minister Kukrit Pramoj not to fear the Communist Party of Thailand.

It was too small to worry about, the chairman said. Kukrit gushed after meeting Mao, telling reporters, ‘He’s so great’, and ‘I have never met anyone with so impressive a personality before.’

The two nations had been Cold War adversaries since Mao’s forces came to power in 1949 and Thailand aligned itself with the United States after World War II. A Chinese-backed communist insurgency had been fought in Thailand’s border and provincial areas since the mid-1960s. Kukrit said Mao’s assurance was meant to make him feel relieved, but declined to comment on whether it had achieved that purpose. Kukrit said Mao knew ‘a lot about Thailand’.

Kukrit and Chinese Premier Chou En-lai signed a communiqué normalising relations at 6pm on 1 July at Beijing Hospital, where Chou was recovering from illness.

30 June 1975

China, Thailand friends, Mao says Thai communists are nothing to fear

One day before relations between China and Thailand were officially normalised, China’s leader Chairman Mao Tse-tung told Thai Prime Minister Kukrit Pramoj not to fear the Communist Party of Thailand.

It was too small to worry about, the chairman said. Kukrit gushed after meeting Mao, telling reporters, ‘He’s so great’, and ‘I have never met anyone with so impressive a personality before.’

The two nations had been Cold War adversaries since Mao’s forces came to power in 1949 and Thailand aligned itself with the United States after World War II. A Chinese-backed communist insurgency had been fought in Thailand’s border and provincial areas since the mid-1960s. Kukrit said Mao’s assurance was meant to make him feel relieved, but declined to comment on whether it had achieved that purpose. Kukrit said Mao knew ‘a lot about Thailand’.

Kukrit and Chinese Premier Chou En-lai signed a communiqué normalising relations at 6pm on 1 July at Beijing Hospital, where Chou was recovering from illness.