The Vagaries Of Diplomacy

In the early 1970's Zhou Enlai,

first premier of The People's Republic of China,
was asked his opinion of the French revolution.

His reply was “It’s too soon to tell”.
What was then seen as being far sighted,
for being a comment on the year 1789
was actually a reference to the Parisian
student revolts of 1968.

As he never said
'Diplomacy is being misunderstood
to good effect by other means.'.