At 3:00 p.m. on October 16, 1964, a huge fireball and mushroom cloud rose over the Hoooo Lop Nur nuclear test site in southeastern Xinjiang, and China's first atomic bomb exploded successfully!
The good news that comes means that China will officially enter the era of nuclear weapons, and it is reasonable to say that this exciting news should be announced to the world immediately.
However, what everyone did not expect was that after confirming that it was really a nuclear explosion, Chairman Mao waved his hand one after another, saying: "Don't be busy announcing it to the outside world, keep a low profile, and notify Japan first." ”
Why did Mao Zedong say this? What does this have to do with Japan?
Chairman Mao: The atomic bomb is a paper tiger
On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb in human history exploded in Hiroshima, Japan, and three days later, the second atomic bomb exploded in Nagasaki, Japan.
On the same day that the United States dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Liberation Daily, the organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Yan'an, carried the news of the atomic bombing of Japan by the United States.
According to the report, the Japanese residents at that time were carrying out their daily lives, and suddenly there was a bright light in the sky, and the pedestrians on the thorny road took their hands to block their eyes, followed by a loud noise. In the next second, all the creatures in the city were burned to death, and the sky above the city was filled with fireworks, reaching forty thousand feet, and in a moment the lives were destroyed.
At that time, the purpose of the newspaper's report was to tell people that the United States already had a very powerful bomb to deal with the Japanese, which was extremely beneficial to China's war of resistance, and even the newspaper prepared a celebration meeting.
Upon hearing this news, Chairman Mao made an appointment with his secretary, the editor-in-chief of the Liberation Daily, and others to talk, the central meaning of which was that the power of the atomic bomb should not be exaggerated, not only the power of the atomic bomb itself and its role in fighting against the Japanese aggressors, but also how much negative impact it would have on the military and people in the Liberated Areas.
A few days later, Chairman Mao solemnly said at a meeting of cadres in Yan'an: "Can the atomic bomb solve the war?" No! The atomic bomb could not make the Japanese surrender, only the atomic bomb and no people's struggle, the atomic bomb was empty. ”
On August 6, 1946, the American journalist Anna Louis Strong interviewed Chairman Mao in Yan'an, and it was during this visit that Chairman Mao uttered the words that have been passed down through the world: "The atomic bomb is a paper tiger used by American reactionaries to scare people." ”
Interestingly, Lu Dingyi, a translator who was present at the time, translated the paper tiger as "Scarecrow", and Chairman Mao asked Strong, "What does he mean by translation?" ”
Strong replied, "Scarecrow is a scarecrow, that is, a bird scare in the countryside..."
Chairman Mao shook his head after listening to it, "This is not a good translation, this is not what I mean, the paper tiger is not chasing birds in the field, but frightening children, the appearance is fierce and actually paper paste, as soon as the water is soft." ”
Another person on the side heard Chairman Mao's meaning, and he said, "It's not Carecrow, it's Paper-Tiger."
After listening to the man's translation, Chairman Mao nodded with satisfaction, and then read in English in hunan native English: "Pat - Taigen'er." ”
This Hunan version of English also became Chairman Mao's favorite English, which he spoke for many years.
Chairman Mao's exposition of the paper tiger was later widely circulated, just as Lenin described imperialism as a "mud-footed giant", they all saw the essence of the problem and became a world famous saying.
Chairman Mao and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China viewed the atomic bomb with strategic contempt for the enemy, but this does not mean that he did not attach importance to advanced weapons.
The two atomic bombs of the United States had brought considerable shock to China, who could have imagined that one atomic bomb would be enough to destroy a city, and if there were a few more, it would be enough to destroy the whole of Japan.
Chairman Mao is well aware of how powerful the atomic bomb is, and also understands that the atomic bomb has an important role in the development of the country, although the atomic bomb is a paper tiger, but in order not to reproduce the history of China being bullied by the great powers, if you want to become bigger and stronger, it is absolutely impossible without the atomic bomb.
"Strategic defiance, tactical emphasis"
One autumn in 1954, uranium ore resources were discovered in the Guangxi region, and the exciting news soon reached Beijing.
After Receiving the news, Comrade Zhou immediately asked someone to send this uranium ore specimen to Beijing for experts to identify. After identification, this is a secondary ore, which is enough to prove that uranium exists on the land of China.
When Chairman Mao learned of this, he immediately asked Vice Minister of Geology Liu Jie to take this piece of uranium ore to Zhongnanhai for a report. At 11:00 a.m. on the same day, Liu Jie came to Chairman Mao's Juxiang Bookstore office in Fortress Garden on time with uranium ore.
Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou, Zhu De, and other leaders were present that day, and Chairman Mao carefully looked at the piece of uranium ore that was only the size of a fist and said happily:
"Is there still a lot of uranium mines in our country that have not been discovered? We are very hopeful, to continue to find, will definitely find more uranium ore, we have rich mineral resources, we can also develop atomic energy. ”
After Liu Jie finished his report, Chairman Mao stood up and excitedly shook hands with everyone, and then sent Liu Jie to the door and told Liu Jie: "Liu Jie, this matter must be well grasped, this is a matter that determines fate." ”
"Is this a matter of fate?" After Liu Jie left the Juxiang Bookstore, his mind was full of these words. Liu Jie did not understand it at first, and thought that Chairman Mao said it later, because Chairman Mao once said that the atomic bomb was a paper tiger, so why would he say that this was a matter that determined fate?
Later, Liu Jie repeatedly returned to his hometown to understand what Chairman Mao meant by saying that he decided fate. This is Chairman Mao's consistent thinking -- "strategic contempt, tactical attention," which is precisely the concrete embodiment of this idea.
On April 25, 1956, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held an enlarged meeting of the Politburo, at which Chairman Mao talked about the atomic bomb, saying: "We are stronger than in the past, and we will be stronger than we are now." Not only aircraft cannons but also atomic bombs. In today's society, if we want to be free from bullying in other countries, we can't do without this thing. ”
At that time, the issue of the atomic bomb had not yet been accurately put on the agenda, and Chairman Mao humorously pulled his finger and said: "Do you really want the atomic bomb, very much, or do you only want a little bit?" If it is very necessary to lower the standard of military expenditure and engage in economic construction, I hope that the marshals and generals present here will meet to discuss it, and the Central Military Commission will also meet to discuss it. ”
On June 21, 1958, at an enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission, Chairman Mao said: "The atomic bomb is going to be put on the agenda as soon as possible. Well, let's do a little bit of it, I think ten years of work is completely possible. ”
However, at that time, the founding of New China had only been a few years old, and the whole country was in ruins waiting to be rebuilt, and it was not an easy task for the national strength to carry out the development of the atomic bomb. At that time, there was a constant power struggle between the Soviet leadership, and Khrushchev actively adjusted his China policy in order to defeat his formal opponents.
When Khrushchev first visited China, he took the initiative to ask the Chinese side what it wanted, but Chairman Mao expressed his interest in nuclear weapons and hoped that the Soviet Union would be able to give better help, because the Soviet Union had achieved atomic bomb explosion in 1949, becoming the second country to possess nuclear weapons after the United States.
So China and the Soviet Union reached a relevant agreement, and the Soviet Union sent nuclear weapons experts to China to provide technical assistance. However, the development of nuclear weapons had just been carried out for two years, and due to the unpredictable international situation at that time, the Soviet Union unilaterally tore up the agreement.
In August 1960, the Soviet Union withdrew all its experts in China and took with it important drawings and materials, causing huge losses to China's nuclear bomb development work, and the development of the atomic bomb was forced to be stranded.
At that time, the mainland was in a period of economic difficulties during the three years of natural disasters, and the masses of the people even had a problem filling their stomachs, and this invested a lot of resources in the development of the atomic bomb, and suddenly there was no technical assistance and data drawings, and China fell into a very difficult situation.
Keep a low profile to inform Japan
At that time, many countries in the country held a schadenfreude attitude toward China's suffering, looked at China's jokes, and even asserted: "China can't make an atomic bomb in twenty years." ”
At this critical juncture, will nuclear weapons continue to be developed in times of national economic difficulties? Premier Zhou's attitude is very clear: "We must continue to do so!" Chairman Mao also believed that nuclear weapons cannot be relaxed, let alone dismounted.
In 1962, under the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, a 15-member special committee with the development of the atomic energy industry as the main task was established, with Premier Zhou as the director of the committee and Luo Ruiqing as the director of the office.
After five meetings to discuss and study, Premier Zhou agreed to the "two-year plan" proposed by the Ministry of Nuclear Industry to achieve the first nuclear test in 1964.
Subsequently, under the leadership of Premier Zhou, a large amount of manpower, material and financial resources were organized to solve more than 100 major problems encountered in the development of atomic bombs, and the pace of developing atomic bombs was greatly accelerated.
In order to complete the "two-year plan," Zhang Aiping, deputy director of the Office of the Special Committee, actively encouraged Beijing's scientific and technological personnel to work in the Qinghai Plateau area, and overnight, hundreds of scientific and technological personnel left Beijing for Qinghai.
In order to study the atomic bomb, they set up homes near the experimental base, and even the people closest to them did not know what they were doing.
Engineers worked day and night to conduct research work, doing all kinds of experiments every day, and there was no error in a decimal point. Because they know what kind of responsibility they have, a small error may make the entire project fall short.
All the staff members shouted excitedly and wept at the moment of the explosion, and just when everyone felt that this important news should be announced to the whole world immediately, Chairman Mao waved his hand: "Don't be busy announcing it to the outside world, keep a low profile, and notify Japan first." ”
Why did Chairman Mao give such instructions? Because 20 years ago, the two atomic bombs of the United States made Japan the first country to be bombed by atomic bombs.
That time also made Japan abandon the endless war of aggression and choose unconditional surrender. Now that China's atomic bomb has exploded, the biggest reaction is also Japan. The fear of being engulfed in the atomic bomb once again plunged Japan into political tension.
Although after the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Japan has been silent about its aggression against China, and even because it has been bombed by atomic bombs, it has always declared to the outside world that it is the victim of the war. But they know in their hearts how much persecution they have caused against China.
Now that the country, which had been wantonly invaded by them, had become stronger and had its own atomic bomb, it was undoubtedly another panic for them.
At a Japanese press conference held on the same day, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Suzuki, publicly stated: "The Japanese government will seize every opportunity to issue a strong appeal and mobilize international public opinion so that China will no longer conduct nuclear tests..."
At this time, through Chairman Mao's instructions, Premier Zhou made a phone call to Japan, which completely dispelled the hearts of the Japanese authorities as villains and at the same time gave Japan a reassuring pill.
Premier Zhou said: "Under no circumstances or at any time will China take the initiative to use nuclear weapons against other countries, and the atomic bomb is only developed for self-defense." ”
After the news of China's atomic bombing spread to the world, it caused a huge response. Takeo Kimura, a member of the Diet of japan's Liberal Democratic Party, said: "It is a good thing for China to be the first country in Asia to possess nuclear weapons, and I believe what the Chinese government said that China's possession of nuclear weapons is necessary for peace in Asia and the world." ”
On January 9, 1965, not long after the successful atomic bombing on the mainland, Chairman Mao met with the American journalist Snow who was visiting China at the Great Hall of the People, and he asked Chairman Mao: "Do you still think that the atomic bomb is a paper tiger?" ”
Chairman Mao replied, "I will not just talk about it, if it really fights, it will kill people, but in the end it will be destroyed, and then it will really become a paper tiger..."
Then, when asked about the attitude toward the military, Chairman Mao said: "China does not want to have a large number of atomic bombs, for scientific research, a few are enough, the atomic bomb explosion is infinitely powerful, in fact China does not want to have even one atomic bomb in its hands." ”