Zhao said the book should also be made available in other foreign languages, too, especially French, Russian and Japanese, since Zhou once studied or worked in those countries during his early years as a revolutionary. Zhou added that the recent tension between China and other countries was partly due to misunderstanding, and presenting the true China to the outside world could facilitate international harmony.

Zhao suggested that the book should also have a hardcover edition, which would raise the book's prestige and meet the demands of international readers in higher social strata.

Both notions were shared by Zhou Mingwei, President of China International Publishing Group, the parent agency of the book's publisher, New World Press.

"Publishing the English edition of Premier Zhou's essays reflects CIPG's gratitude to this late leader," said Zhou Mingwei, who noted that Premier Zhou personally sought to help establish the Beijing Review, China Construction, now known as China Today, and China Pictorial, three CIPG-published magazines focused on introducing China to the world.

Throughout his whole life, Zhou Enlai devoted himself to state affairs, and he spent his last 26 years of service as the premier of the People's Republic of China.

Premier Zhou was among the best-known Chinese statesmen in the world. He was internationally recognized for the proposal of the "Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence," a standard of international relations that originally served to guide the China-India relationship in 1953. Zhou's iconic handshake with the United States' President Richard Nixon in 1972 was a key moment that signaled a thaw in China-U.S. diplomatic tensions.