Chapter 36 Sanwu Paves the Road of Friendship to Awakened Africa

From mid-December 1963 to the end of February 1964, Premier Zhou Enlai, accompanied by Vice Premier Chen Yi, led a Chinese government delegation to visit 14 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe. The visit lasted 72 days and traveled thousands of miles in the United Arab Republic (now Egypt), Algeria, Morocco, Albania, Tunisia, Ghana, Mali, Guinea, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka), has left the footprints of Premier Zhou everywhere, and left unforgettable memories everywhere. This trip to 14 countries is an international event with world significance in the history of our country, and it is also a monument to the revolutionary practice of Zhou Enlai, a great internationalist fighter.

As a member of the delegation, I deeply feel that Premier Zhou's visit has achieved great success. He has set a shining example for us to do a good job in diplomatic work and open up new prospects, and he has received the most profound education. Among the 14 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe that Premier Zhou visited this time, there are 10 African countries.At this time, Africa, once known as the "Dark Continent", is awakening, and African countries have broken free from the shackles of colonialism and declared independence. Following the Bandung Asian-African Conference in 1955, in 1963 the heads of state of 34 African countries held the inaugural meeting of the Organization of African Unity.The peoples of African countries under colonial rule are fighting bravely and tenaciously for independence and freedom.The vigorous development of the national independence and liberation movement is rapidly changing the political situation of the entire African continent.

As a liberated oppressed country and an active supporter of the African independence movement, New China sent its leader to pay an official friendly visit to 10 African countries for the first time, which was a diplomatic activity of great historical significance.This is a feat of upholding justice and helping the weak against the strong. It has had a huge and far-reaching impact on the African continent. Through this visit, mutual understanding and trust between my country and African countries have been enhanced, friendly cooperation between my country and these countries has been promoted, a new situation has been created in my country's diplomatic work with Africa, and an important new chapter has been written for my country's diplomatic history.

In mid-December 1963, when visiting Egypt, the first country in Africa, Premier Zhou personally formulated the five principles for the relationship between my country, African countries and Arab countries in accordance with the spirit of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and the Ten Principles of the Bandung Conference.Our country supports the struggle of the people of African and Arab countries against imperialism, old and new colonialism, and for and safeguarding national independence, supports them in pursuing a peaceful, neutral and non-aligned policy, and supports their desire to achieve unity and solidarity in the way they choose, through peaceful Negotiate to resolve disputes between each other, advocate that the sovereignty of these countries should be respected by all other countries, and oppose infringement and interference from any side.These principles are the pioneering work of our country's diplomacy, which are widely welcomed by African and Arab countries, and have always guided our country's friendly exchanges with African and Arab countries.

Most of the African countries visited this time are countries that have just gained independence, have low status, have little say, and are looked down upon by others.The Premier of the People's Republic of China went there and announced the five principles of justice and friendship, which is a great support for them.The people of all countries received Premier Zhou in the warmest way and with the highest etiquette.During the visit, no matter which city we arrived in, it was filled with crowds of people, men, women and children, all dressed in red, purple, blue and green national costumes, singing and dancing to the exciting rhythm of African drums.The elderly and children rushed up to touch the cars of the Chinese guests. The women took off their flowered gowns according to local customs and spread them on the road to be run over by the cars of the Chinese guests, so that their beloved clothes would leave traces of friendship.There were hearty laughter and tears of excitement, warm applause and gorgeous flowers everywhere, fully expressing the profound friendship of the African people to the Chinese guests.

During the last 4 days of 1963 we visited the Kingdom of Morocco.According to the usual practice, no matter the visiting president, king, prime minister or prime minister, the king of Morocco never goes to the airport to greet him, but waits at the gate of his palace and pays homage after people come to see him.This time to receive Premier Zhou, King Hassan II considered that although it is inconvenient to make an exception, he must fully express his friendliness to Chinese guests.Therefore, a special arrangement was made to let Chinese guests live in a luxurious palace "Peace Palace" on the outskirts of the city.On the day Premier Zhou arrived, the king went to the outskirts of the city and greeted the guests in person at the gate of the "Peace Palace". He led the guests into the palace, drank tea, exchanged greetings for a while, and then left.The foreign minister told the Chinese guests privately: Our king is making an exception this time, which has never happened before.

On January 21, Premier Zhou arrived in Conakry, the capital of Guinea.The hospitable President Sekou Toure didn't let the delegation live in a European-style villa, but sent us directly to the "Villa with a Beautiful View".These are two African-style huts built by the sea, with comfortable equipment inside.The beach is right outside the house.Living in this African-style thatched cottage makes the guests feel a deep and strong sense of nationality and friendly friendship. During his visit to Africa this time, Premier Zhou proposed eight principles for my country's foreign aid.These principles have been deliberated and carefully considered by the Prime Minister, and fully reflect the spirit of proletarian internationalism.Premier Zhou has always attached great importance to foreign aid.When I came to Zuozhou this time, I always squeezed time to personally inspect my country's foreign aid projects to understand and solve existing problems.He also examines the consequences of superpower "aid" on Third World countries.The purpose of their "aid" is to plunder, to seek privileges, and to increase the dependence of recipient countries on them.At the same time, Premier Zhou also summed up the experience of my country's foreign aid work.Mali is one of the African countries that established diplomatic relations with my country earlier. At that time, my country sent many experts to Mali.From Ghana to Mali, Premier Zhou and President Keita talked the most about economic aid to Mali and Africa.With infinite sympathy for developing countries, Premier Zhou put forward eight principles for my country's foreign aid in accordance with Chairman Mao Zedong's teaching that the people who have won the revolution should assist the people who are fighting for liberation.He stayed up all night the night before he came up with the eight principles.The main contents of the eight principles include strictly respecting the sovereignty of the recipient country, not attaching any conditions, not asking for any privileges, aiding the other party to enhance self-reliance, providing high-quality equipment, ensuring the transfer of technology, and the experts we send are treated equally with local experts Wait.These principles embody the spirit of mutual aid and support, and the two sides are equal. They are in stark contrast to the chauvinism of the great powers, and fully reflect the sincere desire of our country to carry out economic and cultural cooperation with the third world countries. Doctrine created a brilliant example.

According to these principles, during Premier Zhou's visits to Africa, almost every country he visited had to negotiate a sum of aid.Although the amount of my country's aid is not much compared with the aid of superpowers, it is really used to support their national economy and help solve the daily necessities of the people.For example, help them establish their own rice factories, leather factories, cigarette factories and so on.Guinea is rich in bamboo, but cannot weave.The Prime Minister sent our experts to help them develop the bamboo weaving industry so that their resources can be fully developed and utilized.The Mali people love to drink tea. In the past, they imported tea from China every year, and China sent tea experts to help the Mali people grow and roast tea by themselves.They would rather lose their own export markets than help friendly countries develop their economies, showing the sincerity and selflessness of friendship.

During this visit, Premier Zhou always respected the arrangements of the host country and was considerate of the host country in everything.Ghana was one of the countries scheduled to visit. After the New Year in 1964, when he was about to depart from Albania, an unexpected incident happened. On January 2, the assassination of President Nkrumah took place in Ghana.Faced with this sudden change, should we still visit?The question is not only whether we should go or not, but also Ghana's wishes and difficulties that we need to seriously consider.After serious consideration, Premier Zhou decided to go for the visit and asked me to go to Ghana first to learn about the situation directly.At that time we had chartered two Dutch planes, and the Prime Minister asked me to take one of them first.I landed in Tunisia and waited for the Prime Minister to see if he had any new instructions.After the Prime Minister arrived, he said: You go first, go to Ghana to discuss more with Comrade Huang Hua, if you have any questions, contact me by telegram immediately.I flew to Accra, the capital of Ghana, on the same day.I remember that I improvised a poem on the plane at that time, in which there is a sentence "flying thousands of miles in one day", which refers to this day.I went with Ambassador Huang Hua to meet Nkrumah, who lives in the Christian Castle with gauze and bandages on his face.On the one hand, we expressed condolences to him on behalf of Premier Zhou, and on the other hand, we discussed with them the specific arrangements for the visit, and conveyed Premier Zhou's suggestion: this visit will be free of all etiquette, and the president should not be greeted at the airport, and no meeting will be held outside the castle. and banquet.These arrangements took care of Nkrumah's difficult situation. He was very happy to hear these suggestions from Premier Zhou and expressed his full agreement.Not long after the assassination happened, the situation was not yet fully understood. Although Ambassador Huang Hua made many analysis and said that he could go, we were very concerned about the safety of Premier Zhou.The central government also attached great importance to the development of this incident and the issue of the Prime Minister's visit, and sent telegrams from time to time to inquire about the situation.Premier Zhou's decision to visit Ghana is very wise and has a great impact on Ghana and the whole of Africa.Nkrumah was very grateful to us. He originally estimated that Premier Zhou would not go under such turbulent circumstances.Premier Zhou took a big political view and went there at a risk. He supported Nkrumah in a difficult time, showing his respect for a small country.Such a thing is rare in the history of world politics.The effect of this incident is very good, and the impact is very large. China's image in Africa has greatly increased its brilliance.

During the visit, Premier Zhou was considerate of the situation of the countries visited and respected their national pride.At that time, Ethiopia had not yet established diplomatic relations with my country, and they were still under the control of the United States.After sending the invitation to Premier Zhou, they still had some conflicts and felt embarrassed.On the one hand, they wanted Premier Zhou to visit, but on the other hand they were afraid of pressure from the United States.Forced by such external factors, Emperor Selassie proposed that he could not receive us in the capital Addis Ababa, and planned to receive us in Asmara.According to international practice, it is impolite for a country's prime minister not to be received in the capital.The American newspapers immediately shouted about this, saying that this was a deliberate lowering of the reception standards for Chinese people.However, Premier Zhou focused on developing the friendship between the Chinese and African peoples and the Chinese and Egyptian peoples, understood the difficult situation of the Egyptian side, and still gladly accepted the invitation to visit.At that time, some of our representatives couldn't figure it out, but Premier Zhou said: It doesn't matter, the United States puts pressure on them, and we should forgive them.When Premier Zhou met with Emperor Selassie, the two sides had disagreements and disputes arose.Later, we prepared a speech and prepared to speak at the banquet.Before the banquet, Premier Zhou had been thinking about whether it was necessary to talk about many points of view.After repeated discussions with comrades in the delegation, the Prime Minister said that it is not necessary to talk about it, but we must change the way to let them know our opinions.He asked Comrade Yu Peiwen, chief of protocol, to send the speech to Emperor Selassie for his opinion.After reading it, Selassie said, please tell Premier Zhou that we all know his opinion and point of view, and we respect him, so please don't talk about this manuscript.Therefore, Premier Zhou did not speak.He said that we can wait 5 years, 10 years, 15 years until the other party is convenient for us to establish diplomatic relations.After this meeting, Ethiopia soon established diplomatic relations with our country.

After the New Year, I will fly non-stop from Albania to West Africa, with a distance of 10,000 miles, and I need to refuel in Tunisia.This country was not included in the original plan to visit Africa, but the Tunisian side has repeatedly warmly invited it.So we decided to go, and extended the stay from one day to one and a half days, and finally added it to two days, upgrading the "stop for refueling" into an official visit. On January 9, the evening when the Chinese guests arrived in Tunisia, President Bourguiba made a speech at the state banquet and raised some objections to China's foreign policy.Premier Zhou fully understood the doubts and misunderstandings of various friends, and gave specific and satisfactory answers on the spot in the spirit of "seeking common ground while reserving differences".Later President Bourguiba said: "I agree with Premier Zhou Enlai's policy of seeking common ground while reserving differences. We still want to oppose imperialism and colonialism. Tunisia needs a great friendship and must establish diplomatic relations with China." The next day, Tunisia and China officially announced the establishment of diplomatic relations.This is a big gain from visiting Africa, and it is also an important victory in the diplomatic struggle with some major powers.Practice has proved that it is a very wise decision for the central government to allow us to visit some countries that do not have diplomatic relations with China, and its influence is huge.After this visit, at the end of that year, Congo (Brazzaville), Tanzania, the Central African Republic, Zambia, Dahomey (now called Benin) and other African countries successively established diplomatic relations with my country. When answering questions from reporters in Egypt, Premier Zhou said: "The first purpose of the Chinese government delegation's visit to Africa is to learn from the African people; the second purpose is to seek friendship." The energy to conduct investigations and research, to take a serious study of all the beneficial things in these countries.He also repeatedly pointed out to the comrades in the delegation: Don't think that all Africa is backward after hundreds of years of colonial rule. African countries have many advantages that we can learn from.Premier Zhou highly praised the vigorous political enthusiasm of the African people and praised their revolutionary spirit against imperialism and colonialism.During his visit to Sudan, Premier Zhou repeatedly talked about the shameful end of the veteran colonialist Gordon.Gordon is the executioner of British colonialism. In the 1860s, he participated in the burning of the Old Summer Palace by the British and French allied forces, and helped the emperor of the Qing Dynasty suppress the peasant uprising army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. In the 1970s, he became the British colonial governor in Sudan.Later, this colonialist who managed to escape the punishment of the Chinese people was finally stabbed to death in Khartoum by the heroic Sudanese People's Rebel Army.The Sudanese people avenged themselves and vented their hatred for the Chinese people.Premier Zhou has repeatedly expressed his gratitude to the Sudanese host to the Sudanese people and expressed his desire to learn from the Sudanese people. Premier Zhou attached great importance to learning from the scientific and technological achievements of these countries. In the first few years of the 1960s, our country was engaged in a big battle for oil development.Premier Zhou paid great attention to visiting oil refineries in some African countries along the way.In Morocco, he visited the oil refineries with modern equipment built by Italy and France, and appreciated them very much.He said that the oil refinery that the Soviet Union helped us build in Lanzhou has similar production capacity as this refinery, but they only need 200 workers, while we need 6,000 workers.After visiting the plant, he wrote in his inscription: "This is a very good modern oil refinery. It was built quickly, managed well, and trained many technicians. It is worth learning from." After returning to China, the Prime Minister sent the chief engineer of the Ministry of Petroleum to inspect the Moroccan refinery.In Ghana, there was no planned tour of the refinery.When Premier Zhou passed an oil refinery by car, he stopped for a visit with the owner's consent.The plant refines 1.2 million tons of oil annually and employs only 300 workers.Premier Zhou asked relevant Chinese departments to learn from its strengths. The oranges Premier Zhou ate in Morocco were imported from China.The Prime Minister said that China is the hometown of oranges. Over the past few decades, due to poor management, the variety has degenerated, but the Moroccan people have made new developments through scientific planting and management, which are much more delicious than our oranges.In the second year, the Prime Minister sent the deputy director of the Xishuangbanna Institute of Botany and the director of the Guangzhou Institute of Botany to investigate oranges in Morocco. Wherever Premier Zhou went, he always cared for all the working people there with sincere affection. His cordial feelings for the people of all walks of life and his attitude of treating others left a deep impression on the African people.During his visit to Ghana, Premier Zhou asked to try cassava, the staple food of the local people.When the host hesitated, the Prime Minister said, "I just want to eat your home-cooked meal".No matter in the hotel, at the airport, when visiting the unit, or on any other grand occasion, he always shakes hands or talks cordially with the service personnel, drivers, security personnel, welcome and farewell people, African drummers, etc. present.In the hotels where he stays, the Prime Minister always meets the cooks and receptionists, shakes hands with them cordially, talks with them, and expresses his thanks to them.The laborers who have come into contact with Premier Zhou all feel that he is approachable and like a family member.Before the delegation left Accra, Premier Zhou held a banquet specially for the service personnel of the delegation at the State Building where Premier Zhou stayed. Premier Zhou and Vice Premier Chen Yi personally toasted them.They were moved to tears, held their wine glasses with trembling hands, and said affectionately: "Such a legendary story will be passed down forever in the future generations of the Ghanaian people!" of.They attached great importance to the safety of the delegation led by Premier Zhou, and the Premier often expressed cordial concern for their work and life, which moved them very much.They said that our Dutch planes have flown almost all over the world, but we have never seen the leaders of any country treat us as equals as your Prime Minister. He shook hands with us and took pictures with us, showing us great respect.After the delegation visited Albania, there should have been another crew change.But 18 of them wrote a report to the Dutch Minister saying: We are determined to serve the visit of the Chinese Premier to the end.Their wish came true.When they arrived in Kunming at the end of the visit, they proposed to visit Beijing.Premier Zhou sent our plane to take them to Beijing, and together with Vice Premier Chen Yi specially entertained them, and sent someone to show them places of interest in Beijing.Finally, they returned to China reluctantly. Before leaving, they sincerely expressed that the Prime Minister had a mission to visit in the future, and they were very willing to serve again, and they would definitely complete the mission satisfactorily. On February 4, 1964, the last day of his visit to 10 African countries, in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, Premier Zhou made the famous statement that "the entire African continent is in a good revolutionary situation".He pointed out to the world: Africa is no longer the Africa of the late 19th century or the early 20th century. Africa "has become an awakened, fighting, and advanced continent." He firmly believes that an independent, prosperous and powerful new Africa must emerge of.The development of African history fully confirmed Premier Zhou's thesis. At the Bandung Asian-African Conference in 1955, there were only 4 independent countries in Africa. Today, there are 51 independent countries in Africa. Great changes have taken place. It has been 24 years since Premier Zhou visited 10 African countries, and it has been 12 years since Premier Zhou left us.However, the principles he put forward in Africa have withstood the test of the practice of international life;His glorious image as a great internationalist fighter will forever remain in the hearts of the African people and the people of the world, and will always be revered and missed by hundreds of millions of people. Premier Zhou's outstanding diplomatic style in foreign affairs activities, superb diplomatic art, and outstanding talent in negotiations are the most precious legacy left to my country's diplomatic work.And his noble character and foresight as a great proletarian diplomat will always be a shining example for our diplomatic workers to learn from.