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Finally, it was the turn of the U.S. delegates, Vice President George Bush and Secretary of State George Shultz. The Americans and the Russian looked at each other carefully as Viktor Sukhodrev, who had been Brezhnev's interpreter, translated for Andropov. The new Soviet leader showed no inclination to display his reputed command of English. Knowing they had been invited to talk privately with Andropov in two hours, the Americans then moved on toward a large portrait of Brezhnev, draped in black, that had been set up on a table just beyond the receiving line. Nearly every delegation had stopped to face the portrait for a moment of silent contemplation. But Bush and Shultz, either deliberately or because they were absorbed by the prospect of the forthcoming meeting with Andropov, barely paused to glance at it.
At their meeting in the Green Room in the Kremlin, Andropov continued to speak exclusively in Russian. Bush and Shultz put forward the three main areas of U.S. concern: the Soviet Union's attitude toward human rights; regional issues, like Afghanistan; and the U.S. hope for progress in the two sets of nuclear-arms-limitations negotiations now under way in Geneva. But what mattered most for the Americans at this first meeting was to get a measure of the new leader in the Kremlin. Concluded a Western diplomat in Moscow: "The main impression Bush and Shultz had was of Andropov's great self-confidence and control. Andropov has been receiving one delegation after another as if he had been in office for months."
Perhaps the most significant of Andropov's encounters was with Huang, the first Chinese foreign minister to travel to Moscow since 1964. Huang had arrived from Peking with a message from the Chinese leadership expressing a desire to speed up consultations designed to normalize relations between the two Communist giants. Following his meeting with Andropov, Huang conferred for 90 minutes with Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko. The same day, Pravda Editor Viktor Afanasyev told a group of visiting Japanese journalists that both Peking and Moscow might agree to reduce their military forces along the Soviet-Chinese border. Though just such a proposal has been expected by diplomats since Brezhnev made overtures to Peking earlier this year, the timing of Afanasyev's statement seemed designed to give Andropov credit for a foreign policy initiative.
When Huang returned to Peking after his four-day stay in Moscow, he told reporters that he and Gromyko had discussed "ways of removing obstacles and promoting consultations between deputy foreign ministers to achieve progress on substantive matters." A new round of talks would be held in Moscow, he said. Asked about the probable outcome, Huang replied: "I am optimistic." When an announcement came the next day that Huang was retiring for reasons of health, to be replaced by his senior deputy, Wu Xueqian, China experts took a closer look at Huang's seemingly unexceptional remarks. Inevitably, there was speculation that Huang might have exceeded his instructions in Moscow or that the Peking leadership was retreating from its friendlier stance toward the Soviets. Still, analysts in Peking and Washington doubted that the 69-year-old Huang, who is known to have been ill, would have been ousted for pausing too long to talk with Andropov on the Kremlin receiving line.