Chapter 39 Three Eighth Cherry Blossoms in Memories of the Gardener

"A clump of cherry blossoms grows amidst the greenery, and the pink is tender and tender, making people fascinated." This is Zhou Enlai's poem praising Japanese cherry blossoms in his youth. In 1975, when he met his Japanese friends Daisaku Ikeda and Shigeru Poly in the hospital, he fondly recalled the scene of viewing cherry blossoms in Arashiyama, Kyoto, Japan 56 years ago.Japanese friends hope that he will revisit Japan during the cherry blossom season and enjoy cherry blossoms again. Premier Zhou said: "I have a wish, but I can't do it. I'm afraid it will be very difficult."

Yes, how much this great gardener who worked so hard to cultivate the flower of friendship between China and Japan wants to set foot on that beautiful country again and see the cherry blossoms that are steamed with jade and glowing like clouds! When the cherry blossoms were in full bloom in 1979, Comrade Deng Yingchao led a delegation of the National People's Congress to visit Japan, fulfilling Premier Zhou's last wish.When Sister Deng cut the ribbon for Premier Zhou's stele in Lanshan, Kyoto, she said with deep affection: "Beautiful cherry blossoms, under the action of the laws of nature, thousands of trees and thousands of flowers bloom at the same time, and thank you heroically without nostalgia. Zhou Enlai’s pursuit of the truth of life has given a lot of inspiration. The poem stele adds to the beauty of the ancient capital of Japan, and also connects Zhou Enlai and the people of China and Japan forever.”

After the founding of New China, China and Japan had no diplomatic relations for more than 20 years, and people-to-people exchanges developed through tortuous roads. In order to dispel the dark clouds of history and open up a channel for the normalization of Sino-Japanese relations, Premier Zhou has done a lot of painstaking and meticulous work, especially through non-governmental diplomacy to sow friendship between the two peoples. The flower of friendship between the Japanese people has borne fruitful results. Premier Zhou said many times in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China that the Japanese people should be distinguished from Japanese militarism. The responsibility for the war does not lie with the Japanese people, and the Japanese people also suffered disasters caused by the war.He has repeatedly instructed the comrades engaged in the work with Japan to do more persuasion and explanation work to the people, so that the people of the whole country can understand that the friendly relationship between the two peoples is in the common interests of the two peoples.

The channels for people-to-people exchanges between China and Japan were first opened up through non-governmental trade. In April 1952, at the Moscow International Economic Conference, Nan Hanchen, the head of the Chinese delegation, and Lei Renmin, the deputy head, followed the instructions given to them by Premier Zhou before leaving, and took advantage of the opportunity of the meeting to meet with the participating Japanese Socialist Party. Member of the House of Representatives Ke Zuji, Senator Gao Liangfu and Representative of the Improvement Party Miyakoshi Kisuke made contact and invited them to visit China.When Premier Zhou learned that three Japanese friends accepted the invitation and were about to visit China with friends from other countries, on April 17 he personally wrote to Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Chen Yun and Wang Jiaxiang and other comrades, informing them that they had made careful arrangements. Arrangement, he personally leads the reception work.In order to prepare to answer questions from friends, Premier Zhou presided over the participation of relevant departments and compiled a "Questions and Answers" material, which was finally revised by him and reported to Chairman Mao for approval.Among them, when talking about the attitude towards Sino-Japanese trade, my country and Japan have historically had a long trade relationship due to the geographical relationship.But at present the Japanese people do not have the independence of foreign trade... The Chinese people sympathize with this.If the people of China and Japan can resume normal trade relations on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, it will greatly benefit the economic development of the two countries and the improvement of people's lives.When talking about whether China welcomes foreign investment, China now has foreign investment, and law-abiding foreign businessmen are protected.

Under the guidance of Premier Zhou, we received several pioneers of Japanese non-governmental trade, and in accordance with Premier Zhou's profoundly stated views, we introduced our attitude and related policies to Sino-Japanese non-governmental trade to Japanese friends, and Japanese friends were greatly impressed. Encouragement, while deepening the impression of new China.Although the round-trip value of the first non-governmental trade agreement negotiated at that time was only 30 million pounds each, this was the first batch of Japanese guests to China after the founding of New China.Since then, the people of the two countries have exchanged information and conveyed their friendly wishes to each other.It is like a young sprout that has been tested by the long and severe winter, breaking through the frozen ground and standing upright, showing people infinite vitality and hope.

In October 1954, at the invitation of the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs, a delegation of members of the Japanese Diet and an academic and cultural delegation attended my country's National Day ceremony. On October 11, Premier Zhou met with Japanese friends and had a conversation with them for more than three hours.Premier Zhou first said: "I am very happy today. So many Japanese friends come to our National Day. Now that you are here, we hope that you will stay for a longer period of time and see more things. Our two countries are close neighbors. Over the past few years, there have been great estrangements, and I hope that the people of China and Japan can resume exchanges and the relations between the two countries can be normalized." Premier Zhou said: "For 60 years, Sino-Japanese relations have been bad, but this has passed. We should let it pass. The past history should not repeat itself.” He pointed out that there are seeds of peace and friendship between the Chinese and Japanese people. The biggest and most vivid example of this seed of friendship is that many Japanese participated in the The People's Liberation Army helped us drive away the US imperialists and defeated the Kuomintang reactionaries. After the war, some of them worked as doctors, nurses, teachers, and engineers in China, working with the Chinese people, and were trusted by the Chinese people.Premier Zhou said with emotion, think about it, people who have fought in the past work together after putting down their weapons and trust each other. This is friendship, it can be said to be true friendship and reliable friendship.Therefore, the gentleman who just improved the party said that we are "of the same language and the same race", and it is entirely possible for us to improve Sino-Japanese relations on the basis of this friendship.Premier Zhou also said to Japanese friends that you can see our good, backward, and intermediate phenomena. After the visit, please give us your opinions and advice.China has a lot to do.Being busy with nation building requires a peaceful environment, and peace building is our unswerving policy.

Premier Zhou also expressed his views on the issues of war criminals, Japanese overseas Chinese, restoration of traffic, fisheries, and trade.Finally, Premier Zhou said that there are people like Fu Zuoyi, Zhang Zhizhong, Cheng Qian, etc., you can all meet and have a comprehensive talk.Don't just see me, I can't represent all.When talking about policies, I represent the government, and when talking about opinions, I still have limitations.We also hope to go to Japan, so we need to ask our Japanese friends to work hard. In the early days of the founding of New China, because China and Japan had no government relations, they could not sign a fishery agreement. Japanese fishermen went to China's offshore East China Sea and the Yellow Sea to operate, often causing friction at sea, and problems such as sheltered ports and shipwreck rescue could not be resolved, and safety could not be obtained. ensure. At the beginning of 1955, under the instructions of Premier Zhou, the China Fisheries Association was established, and the Japan-China Fisheries Association held non-governmental fishery negotiations between the two countries, signed a Sino-Japanese non-governmental fishery agreement, and resolved the disputes between the two parties in the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea. Fishing and reasonable protection of fishery resources and other issues.In the process of preparing for negotiations, Premier Zhou asked the Chinese representative to investigate how many Japanese fishing companies were fishing in the East and Yellow Seas, how much was fished, and how many people lived on it?Premier Zhou said that most of them are small and medium-sized enterprises, and their interests should be properly taken care of.

Premier Zhou has the people of China and Japan in his heart, and proceeds from the interests of the two peoples in everything and everything. He is greatly respected and trusted by the Japanese people and Japanese friends from all walks of life.The late Prime Minister Masahiro Ohira said that Premier Zhou was the statesman he respected most in the world.Mr. Okazaki Kaheita, who is one year older than Premier Zhou, still regards Premier Zhou as his "teacher in life".Many Japanese friends, no matter whether they have met Premier Zhou or not, always talk with enthusiasm, with tears of gratitude and admiration in their eyes.It is universally recognized that the development of Sino-Japanese relations from scratch to an irreversible torrent is inseparable from the hard work and wisdom of Premier Zhou.Like a diligent gardener, he cultivated the hearts of the two peoples.

Together with Chairman Mao and other proletarian revolutionaries of the older generation, Premier Zhou participated in the formulation of our country's diplomatic line and various policies with his extraordinary diplomatic skills, enabling our country to appear on the world stage with a brand-new look and win international recognition. It is generally respected and praised in the world, especially in relations with Japan.The Taiwan question is a major issue of principle involving my country's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and it is also a major obstacle to the restoration and development of Sino-Japanese relations after the war.In order to break through this obstacle, Premier Zhou put forward a series of principles for the development of Sino-Japanese relations, and put forward different policies at different times, on behalf of the Chinese government and people to fight against the international community to create "two Chinas" and "one China, one Taiwan". " and advocating "Taiwan independence" and "Taiwan's status is undecided" and other conspiracy activities have waged a long-term and unremitting struggle.

After the war, when the Japanese government did not recognize the People's Republic of China, Premier Zhou opened the door to Sino-Japanese relations based on the guiding ideology of private people first and private people promoting officials.From 1952 when three members of the Japanese Diet, including Koyotomi, Hozuke, and Miyaoshi Kisuke, broke the blockade and visited China to sign the first Sino-Japanese non-governmental trade agreement, to assisting Japanese overseas Chinese to return to China, releasing Japanese war criminals in custody, and developing cultural and sports activities. The friendly exchanges in the field and the signing of the fishery agreement, the people of China and Japan and the non-governmental friendship groups of the two sides have done a lot of work with official functions through non-governmental channels without official exchanges.However, these are by no means plain sailing.The fourth Sino-Japanese non-governmental trade agreement was to go beyond the non-governmental nature and solve some issues with official powers such as mutual establishment of resident trade agencies, use of encrypted communications, and flying of the national flag, which were obstructed by the Japanese government at that time in every possible way. It took a year and a half before an agreement was reached in March 1958.However, before the ink was dry, the Nobusuke Kishi cabinet blatantly intervened under the pressure of the Taiwan authorities, and even the well-known "Nagasaki flag incident" occurred in which gangsters were allowed to tear up our national flag and insult our national dignity.This happened on April 3 of the same year at the "China Postage Stamp Paper-cutting Exhibition" at the "Hamaya" department store in Nagasaki.Since then, not only the fourth non-governmental trade agreement that was just signed has not been implemented, but the non-governmental exchanges established through the hard work of the two peoples have almost been interrupted.

In response to the Japanese government's attempt to do business with me while being politically hostile to my country and creating "two Chinas", Premier Zhou promptly put forward the principle of "politics and economy inseparable" and the "three principles of politics" and "three principles of trade". ", which established the policy and pointed out the course for the improvement and development of Sino-Japanese relations.According to the instructions of Premier Zhou, when the China Fisheries Association notified the Japanese side that it would not extend the period of the non-governmental fishery agreement in June 1958, it proposed that the Japanese side must clearly recognize three political principles, namely: (1) not to implement policies hostile to China; (2) not to participate in the conspiracy to create "two Chinas"; (3) not to obstruct the normalization of relations between the two countries.Premier Zhou personally explained to his Japanese friends that the Chinese government recognizes the government chosen by the Japanese people, and is willing to negotiate with the Japanese government as its opponent, not to engage in "two Japans." However, the Japanese government is hostile to the government chosen by the Chinese people and creates "two Chinas." , which makes no sense. In August 1960, Premier Zhou then proposed the three principles of trade with the content of "government agreement, private contract, and individual consideration".Namely: First, in view of past lessons, to ensure smooth economic exchanges between the two sides, a government agreement should be signed.Second, before unconditionally signing an intergovernmental trade agreement, private enterprises can first sign private contracts, but these enterprises must recognize the three principles of politics, the three principles of trade, and the principle of inseparability of politics and economy.Third, give individual care to Japanese small and medium-sized enterprises that do have difficulties. During the period when Sino-Japanese non-governmental trade suffered serious setbacks, some Japanese small and medium-sized enterprises that made a living by importing Chinese raw materials could not continue their operations and were on the verge of bankruptcy.The development of the situation aroused the concern of friendly people from all walks of life in Japan, and some far-sighted politicians took actions to condemn and attack the Japanese government's policy of hostility to New China.Many enterprises and commercial companies expressed their willingness to accept the above-mentioned principles proposed by the Chinese side.Premier Zhou also proposed that on the premise of accepting the above principles, Japanese enterprises or trading companies can become "friendly trading companies" after being recommended by Japanese friendly groups and people, and continue to engage in Sino-Japanese trade; "Special care can be given to provide them with my traditional goods so that they do not go bankrupt due to the interruption of raw materials.The "friendly trade" developed through the "friendly trading company" played a special role in the severe period of Sino-Japanese relations, and restored and developed the almost interrupted Sino-Japanese non-governmental relations. In the summer of 1960, the Nobusuke Kishi cabinet collapsed in the midst of public grievances, and opening up Japan-China relations became an important diplomatic issue for the newly elected Ikeda cabinet.Kenzo Matsumura, Tatsunosuke Takasaki and others who had long wished to improve Sino-Japanese relations stepped forward to explore new ways to improve Sino-Japanese relations with the acquiescence and support of Prime Minister Ikeda Hayato, Ohira Masahiro, Kono Ichiro and other important cabinet members. way.Premier Zhou seized the opportunity and jointly invited Mr. Songcun and Gao Wei to visit China with Vice Premier Chen Yi. He appointed Premier Zhou's advisor and right-hand man on Sino-Japanese relations, Comrade Liao Chengzhi, as the head of the Chinese side, and had many talks with them. .The two sides decided to open up Sino-Japanese relations in an accumulative and gradual manner, and created a historic memorandum of trade that is part-official and half-people.The two sides not only signed a long-term comprehensive trade memorandum, but also set up permanent institutions in each other - Liao Chengzhi and Tatsunosuke Takashi's office (renamed as the memorandum of trade office during the "Cultural Revolution"), and exchanged resident journalists.The Ikeda cabinet also approved the use of funds from the Export-Import Bank of Japan to export complete sets of equipment to China in the form of deferred payment, making Sino-Japanese relations a big step forward, from non-governmental exchanges to a new stage of half-official and half-people.Mr. Matsumura and Mr. Gao Sui became old friends admired by the Chinese people, and made indelible achievements in the history of Sino-Japanese relations after the war.However, the biggest obstacle in the relationship between the two countries - the Taiwan issue has not been resolved, and the Ikeda cabinet has also failed to take a crucial step on the Taiwan issue. The Sato cabinet, which replaced the Ikeda cabinet, actively cooperated with the US policy of aggression in Asia, and continued to implement the wrong policy of creating "two Chinas" and being hostile to the new China. In the autumn of 1969, Sato visited the United States and issued a joint statement with Nixon, openly stating that "Taiwan's security is an extremely important factor for Japan's security" and actively supporting the US invasion of Vietnam.Under such circumstances, Premier Zhou put forward four conditions for conducting Sino-Japanese trade, that is, those who meet any of the following conditions will not do business with them: (1) Support Chiang Kai-shek’s counterattack to the mainland, and support the Park Chung-hee group’s invasion of the Korean democratic people (2) Manufacturers with large investments in Taiwan and South Korea; (3) Enterprises that provide weapons and ammunition for the US invasion of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia; (4) US-Japan joint ventures in Japan and US companies Subsidiary.Premier Zhou also instructed that the annual memorandum of trade negotiations must be preceded by political talks, affirming that the three principles of politics and the principle of inseparability of politics and economy are the political basis for the development of Sino-Japanese relations, recognizing that the government of the People's Republic of China is the only legal government representing the Chinese people, Taiwan Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory, and resolving the Taiwan issue is China's internal affair.The two sides have reached consensus on political issues and issued a joint statement before entering into trade negotiations.For this reason, Yoshimi Furui, Kaheita Okazaki, and Seiichi Tagawa, who participated in the memorandum of trade negotiations on the Japanese side, were attacked by anti-China forces in Japan, and the Liberal Democratic Party even proposed to punish Yoshimi Furui.However, it was the communiqué of the political talks reached through the hard work of both China and Japan that prepared the conditions for the normalization of Sino-Japanese relations in the future.After entering the 1970s, the US Asia policy went bankrupt, and the international situation underwent great changes.Japan's policy of hostility to China has nowhere to go, and calls for the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan have spread throughout the Japanese archipelago and become more popular.The Socialist Party, the Komeito Party, the Democratic Socialist Party and other opposition parties successively sent delegations to visit China, held talks with our China-Japan Friendship Association, and issued joint communiques. In particular, the talks between me and the Komeito Party received special attention from Premier Zhou.Premier Zhou fully affirmed Komeito's position on the Taiwan issue and summarized it into five principles, called the Five Principles for the Restoration of Diplomatic Relations between China and Japan.Later, on this basis, the three principles for the resumption of diplomatic relations between China and Japan were formed.Namely: 1. The government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing China; 2. Taiwan is an inalienable part of the territory of the People's Republic of China; 3. The Japan-Taiwan treaty is illegal and invalid and should be abolished. On July 7, 1972, when Prime Minister Tanaka took office, he expressed his full understanding of the three principles proposed by the Chinese government for the resumption of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, and announced that he would speed up the normalization of diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.When Premier Zhou saw this news, he immediately called relevant comrades to study countermeasures, and personally added the sentence "this is welcome" to Prime Minister Tanaka's statement in his speech on July 9 welcoming the delegation of the government delegation of the Democratic Republic of Yemen. .Although it is only seven words, when there are different opinions in Japan and Prime Minister Tanaka's grand plan is facing many resistances, it is this quick and clear response that makes Japanese public opinion unprecedentedly unanimous on the issue of Sino-Japanese relations, advocating that it should be realized as soon as possible. The normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan played a key role in the major breakthrough in the development of Sino-Japanese relations.From then on until the release of the Sino-Japanese joint statement on September 29, Premier Zhou worked day and night, carefully analyzing and studying every move of the Tanaka cabinet and various Japanese forces, and took no time to propose practical steps one after another to guide the Chinese Communist Party. Every step of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and Japan. On July 25, when Prime Minister Tanaka entrusted his close friend Yoshikatsu Takeiri to come to China to find out the truth, Premier Zhou talked deeply and frankly about China’s idea of ​​establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries, which actually became the basis of the Sino-Japanese joint statement issued later. Base. On September 25, Prime Minister Tanaka, Foreign Minister Taiping and Chief Cabinet Secretary Nikaido visited China.During the process of negotiating the resumption of diplomatic relations and drafting a joint statement between the prime ministers and foreign ministers of the two countries, the two sides reached an agreement on a series of important issues related to the normalization of Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations in the spirit of mutual understanding, accommodation and seeking common ground while reserving minor differences.On the premise that Japan accepts the Three Principles of Establishing Diplomatic Relations with China, recognizes my position on the Taiwan issue, and cuts off all diplomatic relations with Taiwan, in order to take into account Japan's actual interests, we agree to continue to maintain the existing non-governmental practice between Japan and Taiwan. relation.This fully embodies Premier Zhou's diplomatic style combining firm principles and strategic flexibility. Another focus of struggle in the negotiations on the establishment of diplomatic relations is the issue of post-war treatment, that is, the responsibility for the war, the end of the state of war and the issue of war compensation.The Japanese militarism's war of aggression, which lasted for more than half a century, brought grave disasters to the Chinese people.Remembering the past is the guide for the future. If the two countries want to normalize their diplomatic relations, they must properly resolve these issues.After repeated struggles, the Japanese side clearly assumed the responsibility for the war and expressed its deep remorse.The two sides solemnly declare that from the date of the joint statement, the abnormal state between the People's Republic of China and Japan has come to an end, and pointed out that the end of the state of war and the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan will usher in a new era in the history of bilateral relations. page of .The Chinese government announced that, for the sake of the friendship between the Chinese and Japanese peoples, it renounced its war compensation claim against Japan. On September 29, 1972, the prime ministers and foreign ministers of the two countries solemnly signed the joint statement between the two governments.So far, the normalization of Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations, which the people of the two countries have been striving for for 20 years, has finally been realized, and a new chapter has been opened in the history of Sino-Japanese relations for two thousand years.The exciting scene of Premier Zhou and Prime Minister Tanaka raising Maotai glasses together and toasting to the Chinese and Japanese guests attending the reception celebrating the establishment of diplomatic relations is something we will never forget. We later learned that Premier Zhou had discovered that he had cancer as early as May 1972.However, in the era when the party and the country were in deep danger, in order to realize the common aspiration of the Chinese and Japanese people and benefit future generations, Premier Zhou, regardless of his illness, accelerated his pace of work and undertook an overloaded workload. With the spirit of seizing the day, he commanded the historic feat of normalizing Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations. In the more than 20 years of work with Japan after the founding of New China, which important decision was not the crystallization of Premier Zhou's careful consideration, and which critical moment was not Premier Zhou's direction.Even if it is a small specific job, Premier Zhou never let it go.He often taught us that diplomatic work is no small matter and must not be taken lightly.Premier Zhou always said modestly that he was only the executor of Chairman Mao's strategic decisions, but his outstanding achievements in Sino-Japanese relations are as well known as his great achievements in other fields.He set a shining example for us and left a rich legacy.Due to the limitation of our working area, we can only give a few examples to talk about our experience. Make friends and make friends.Premier Zhou often said: "Diplomatic work is first of all the work of being a human being. The more friends the better." With amazing energy and enthusiasm, he seized every opportunity to make friends with visiting foreign guests, sometimes talking with them for seven or eight hours.His friends include not only famous people, but also ordinary farmers with calluses and young students who are still immature.He talks about problems to convince people with reason, pays attention to enlightenment, and convinces people.Recently, Miyuki Asai, Vice Chairman of the Komeito Party, and Mr. Yuichi Ichikawa, Chairman of the Countermeasures Committee of the National Assembly, reviewed with enthusiasm the impression Premier Zhou left on them.They first met Premier Zhou in 1971.They asked Premier Zhou what is the way to keep healthy?Premier Zhou replied: "During the long years of the Chinese revolution, many comrades died, and those who are alive have to work twice as much. I use this to motivate myself every day. This can also be regarded as a way to maintain health." Premier Zhou also said that he My favorite sentence is "the wind knows the strong grass".How many years have passed, Premier Zhou's conversation has been echoing in their ears, they take these words as their motto, and said excitedly that Premier Zhou has always lived in their hearts. In 1971, an accident happened to a female student visiting with a tourist group in Japan.Some unfriendly forces in Japan took advantage of the issue and maliciously slandered it.Premier Zhou listened to the report on the accident in detail, and instructed my reception unit to invite her father, Professor Ken Xinxing, to personally explain the situation and check the shortcomings in our work.After Premier Zhou's sincere and meticulous work, the professor personally refuted the rumors to the press, clarified the facts, and became a good friend of the Chinese people.Since then, the professor has visited China many times, and Comrade Deng Yingchao still misses this friend made by Premier Zhou. Mr. Koichi Xiyuanji is an old friend of the Chinese people.He came to China with his family in January 1958 and lived in Beijing for 12 years.At that time, China and Japan had not yet established diplomatic relations. Premier Zhou affectionately called him a "civilian ambassador".But during the "Cultural Revolution", Mr. Xiyuansi couldn't stay any longer, and in 1970 he decided to leave Beijing and return to China.The Prime Minister was very concerned about his situation. Before leaving, he specially hosted a family banquet in the Xihua Hall to entertain the whole family with Mrs. Deng, and welcomed him to come once a year in the future to see the changes in China.More than ten years have passed. Although Mr. Xiyuansi is old and frail, he still does not forget the last wish of the Prime Minister and brings his whole family to China once a year for a short stay.On Mr. Xiyuansi's 80th birthday, Sister Deng personally celebrated his birthday, which deeply moved Mr. Xiyuansi's family. In July 1972, the Shanghai Ballet of China visited Japan. The Matsuyama Ballet of Japan helped the Shanghai Ballet to perform successfully in Japan. After returning to China, they reported to Premier Zhou. It is not China, but Kiko Matsuyama, whose opera "The White-haired Girl" was staged on the ballet stage. You should ask for a still photo of Kiko Matsuyama, and write an article on "People's Daily" for introduction.Relevant units followed Premier Zhou's instructions.Premier Zhou's fair evaluation deeply moved the Matsuyama Ballet with Mr. Shimizu Masao as the head and Matsuyama Kiko as the deputy head. "Don't forget the man who dug the well when you drink water" is what Premier Zhou said to Mr. Okazaki Kaheita on the eve of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan.He used this to pay tribute to those Japanese friends from all walks of life who have made valuable contributions to the promotion of China-Japan friendship and the normalization of diplomatic relations for a long time, even at the expense of their lives, and taught the Chinese people to never forget old friends. Treat everyone equally.Premier Zhou has always paid attention to educating foreign affairs cadres to be vigilant against the style of great powerism, and he has practiced it personally.When receiving foreign guests, he pays great attention to respecting each other and never imposes on others.Premier Zhou has been used to working at night for many years, often working at his desk until dawn before going to bed.However, when he learned that Prime Minister Tanaka’s habit is to go to bed early and get up early, starting a week before Prime Minister Tanaka’s visit to China, he took the initiative to adjust his work and rest time. The prime ministers of the two countries met.Once, a Japanese friend reported to Premier Zhou that he had to pay for the reception in Japan.There are many receptions to welcome the Chinese delegation. It is inconvenient to refuse out of friendship, but there are several times a month for socializing, and there is nowhere to reimburse them. The personal burden is heavy.Premier Zhou immediately instructed relevant units to study this issue and discuss with Japanese friends how to reduce their burden. Meticulous.Premier Zhou has always asked foreign affairs personnel to pay attention to timeliness, accuracy and initiative in diplomatic work.He has a lot to do every day, and his work is very busy.But in order to do a good job, he insisted on reading first-hand materials, and even asked his secretary to read "Daily News" for him when he was shaving. He was very familiar with the situation in Japan.Many important situations about Japan are often first discovered by Premier Zhou and reviewed for everyone to see.He asked the comrades in charge to grasp the situation in a timely manner, to be sensitive to issues, and to consider issues carefully. In April 1973, when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom again, Comrade Liao Chengzhi led a delegation from the China-Japan Friendship Association to visit Japan at the invitation of 22 friendly groups from all walks of life in Japan.This is the first important large-scale delegation sent by China after the normalization of diplomatic relations between my country and Japan.From the composition of the members to the policy of activities, Premier Zhou personally made the formulation.On the eve of the delegation's departure, Premier Zhou met with the delegation and relevant comrades from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.After finishing the instructions, Premier Zhou suddenly asked: "How is the growth of the cherry tree sent by Prime Minister Tanaka? This is a gift from Prime Minister Tanaka to the Chinese people on behalf of the Japanese people. Comrade Liao Chengzhi should report to Prime Minister Tanaka face to face when he meets Prime Minister Tanaka." The comrades were stunned.Such an important event has never occurred to anyone.On the spot, two comrades immediately drove to several parks where cherry trees were planted to inspect, and picked a few cherry leaves and handed them to Premier Zhou.When Prime Minister Tanaka met with the China-Japan Friendship Association delegation, Comrade Liao Chengzhi took out a small book from his pocket and gave Prime Minister Tanaka a few flattened cherry leaves.Seeing the expression on the prime minister's face when he took the cherry leaves, carefully studied them and told the secretary to keep them properly, it makes people feel that there is a cherry leaf and a heart, and the two prime ministers value the friendship. Japanese friends know that Premier Zhou loves cherry blossoms but has never been able to realize his wish to go east to see cherry blossoms again. In order to express his nostalgia for Premier Zhou, Mr. Takeiri Yoshikatsu specially ordered a Japan with cherry blossom patterns when Mrs. Deng visited Japan. The cloisonne painting plate was given to Sister Deng, and this plate has been displayed in the living room of Xihua Hall, the residence of Premier Zhou.Daisaku Ikeda, honorary president of the Soka Gakkai of Japan, was one of the Japanese friends that Premier Zhou met in the hospital in his later years.To express his affection for Premier Zhou, Mr. Ikeda planted a kind of cherry blossom on the campus of Soka University and named it "Zhou Ying".When Prime Minister Tanaka left the post of prime minister and was in a very difficult situation, he sent his secretary Shigeru Hayasaka to Beijing to deliver cherry blossom saplings.According to the wishes of Mr. Tanaka, our country planted these cherry trees in Xihua Hall in Beijing and the places where Premier Zhou worked and lived in Chongqing, Nanjing, Xi'an, Shaoxing, Huai'an and so on.Every year in the spring of March, when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, how can people not remember the hard-working gardener and the founder of Sino-Japanese friendship——Premier Zhou Enlai, who made indelible contributions to the development of Sino-Japanese relations and the maintenance of peace in Asia and the world contribution too!