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Yeh Chien-ying, 74, vice chairman of the party's Military Affairs Commission. Assumed to be Acting Defense Minister since the fall of Lin Piao. Yeh is a real power behind the throne because the continued blessing of the military may be crucial to the success of Chou's American initiatives. A representative to the U.S.-sponsored Nationalist-Communist peace negotiations in 1946-47, he was at Chou's side during the Kissinger visits and will be again during the Nixon summit. He is one of ten remaining full members of the Politburo.
Hsiung Hsiang-hui, Chou's Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Former chargè d'affaires in London (1962-65), Hsiung is among Chou's ablest aides. Educated at Western Reserve University in Cleveland and a deputy representative to the U.N. last fall, he speaks excellent English and is ranked one of China's front-rank diplomats and one of its foremost U.S. specialists.
Chang Wen-chin, director of the foreign ministry's American, Western European and Australasian sections. Chang has served as Ambassador to Pakistan and as head of the ministry's Asian section. He accompanied Chou to the 1954 Geneva negotiations on Indochina. Moscow-educated, he is also fluent in English and has served as Chou's English-language interpreter. He is likely to head the ministry's new North American department.
Ch'iao Kuan-hua, 58, First Deputy Foreign Minister and Chinese Ambassador to the U.N. Erudite and skillful, Ch'iao is a career diplomat of prestige and power and perhaps Chou's closest associate in the ministry—he has accompanied him on all his foreign travels, including trips to Geneva in 1954 and 1962, and Bandung in 1955. Though listed by the Chinese as a participant in the Nixon talks, Ch'iao was still in New York—hosting a party for the city police—as of last week. He is a principal adviser on American affairs and speaks very good English.
T'ang Wen-sheng, Interpreter.
Nancy Tang, as she is known to her American friends, grew up and went to high school in New York City. Last year she served as Edgar Snow's interpreter during his visit to China, and was also a member of the Chinese delegation to the U.N.—along with her father, T'ang Ming-ch'ao, who served as deputy representative.