Chapter 44 43 recalls the defense work during the Asian-African Conference

The Asian-African Conference was held from April 18 to 24, 1955 in Bandung, a quiet mountain city on the Indonesian equator line. This is the first meeting independently held by Asian and African countries that desire to control their own destiny and unite against imperialism and colonialism. It is a great milestone in the national independence and liberation movement after World War II. Heads of government of 29 Asian and African independent countries attended the meeting. Our country sent a Chinese delegation headed by Comrade Zhou Enlai to participate in the meeting, and made its own unique contribution at this meeting.

But the imperialists and colonialists hated this meeting very much, and tried every means to obstruct and sabotage it.Around the Asian-African Conference, apart from the open diplomatic struggle for negotiations, the struggle on the invisible front was always quite thrilling and intense. In March 1955, our security department obtained information that Taiwan's secret service agency planned to use the opportunity of the Asian-African Conference to formulate a plan to murder Zhou Enlai, the head of the Chinese delegation, code-named 1. (At that time, Comrades Soong Ching Ling and Guo Moruo were also visiting abroad, and the murder codes were 2 and 3.)

As for the route of the Chinese delegation to Indonesia, the initial plan is to take a boat and rent a Dutch ship; the second is to take a plane and rent the plane "Kashmir Princess" of Air India to fly to Hong Kong-Jakarta. . In early April, we obtained definite information again: Taiwan's secret service conspired to use Hong Kong airport ground staff to plant a time bomb on the plane.Everyone is worried about the safety of Premier Zhou and his delegation.At this time, the initiators of Colombo proposed to hold a small conference in Myanmar in order to prepare for the conference, and invited Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai to attend.

Going to Myanmar is also a matter of plane and route. Because of time constraints, we decided to charter another Indian plane and fly to the northern route (Kunming-Yangon-Jakarta) and try the flight first. On April 7, Comrade Yang Qiqing, deputy minister of the Ministry of Public Security, and Li Fukun, deputy director of the Central Security Bureau, sent Premier Zhou to Kunming to wait for the test results.On the afternoon of April 9th, the good news of the successful sea trial finally came. We were very happy and decided to take the northern route after research.Premier Zhou called Comrade Deng Yingchao in Kunming and said that although he did not take the "Princess Kashmir" plane, the other comrades who arrived in Hong Kong first would take the flight, and asked her to tell Comrade Luo Qingchang to study the situation clearly before the diplomatic The Ministry of Foreign Affairs notified Du William, Chargé d'Affaires ad interim of the United Kingdom, and demanded that the safety of Chinese personnel must be ensured.According to the instructions of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs urgently made an appointment with Du.William, let us know what we have learned, and ask the Hong Kong authorities to take effective measures immediately to ensure the safety of the Chinese delegation.

On the afternoon of April 11th, I received a call from Beijing, reporting that the "Kashmir Princess" plane had lost contact, and a foreign wire reported that I heard a big explosion in the South China Sea...Everyone didn't even have a good dinner that day, waiting for the news of the "Kashmir Princess" plane.In the evening, I received a phone call from Beijing and said: "Kashmir Princess" exploded after taking off from Hong Kong and crashed in the South China Sea. Eight staff members of the Chinese delegation on board and three journalists from Poland, Vietnam, and Austria who were on the same plane were killed. .

This is a sad event.After investigation, when the decision of the Chinese delegation to change the route was formally notified to the British authorities and made public, Taiwan's secret service immediately canceled the plan to assassinate Zhou Enlai in Hong Kong.Since some of the members of my delegation who arrived in Hong Kong first took the "Kashmir Princess", the secret agents still did not miss the opportunity to sabotage.A special agent pretended to be a refueling worker, took the opportunity of refueling the plane, and put a bomb that had been set for 4 hours into the fuel tank of the plane.The plane exploded as it flew over the vicinity of Nathna Island.

After this incident happened, Premier Zhou was very angry. On April 15, he had a special discussion with Prime Minister Nehru in Yangon about the explosion of the "Kashmir Princess" plane.Premier Zhou suggested that the Indian side send an official, and he sent a personal representative to Hong Kong to investigate and handle the incident.In the end, Goss, the deputy director of the Indian Intelligence Agency, and Xiong Xianghui, our party, went to Hong Kong to investigate and deal with it.After sharp struggles and repeated negotiations, in the face of a large amount of evidence, the British authorities finally admitted that this was a political murder targeting Zhou Enlai and the Asian-African Conference.

At this tense moment, Comrade He Qian, the Prime Minister's security secretary, was admitted to the hospital with acute appendicitis. Except Comrade Yao Li and two or three people who had arrived in Jakarta for security work, I was the only one with the Prime Minister at that time.Comrades are very worried about the safety of the Prime Minister after going abroad, and Sister Deng wrote to the Prime Minister to express her thoughts.The Prime Minister said quietly to the delegation and local comrades that we are here to promote world peace and to enhance the understanding and friendship of the people of all countries to New China. Even if an accident occurs, it is worth it, and there is nothing extraordinary about it.In his reply letter to Sister Deng, he said: Thank you for your kindness and admonishment. After this lesson, I should be more cautious and work harder.Civil battles are like military battles, and we cannot fight without danger, nor can we fight unprepared battles. Everything should be considered from multiple perspectives and proceed after collective discussion.I hope you can rest assured. On the evening of the 11th, the central government made an urgent decision to send Comrade Yang Qiqing to Indonesia as a consultant of the delegation, fully responsible for the security and intelligence work during the meeting, and additionally sent Comrade Li Fukun, deputy director of the Security Bureau, as the prime minister's guard, demanding absolute guarantees for the Chinese delegation. and the safety of Comrade Zhou Enlai.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs urgently processed the passports of Yang Qiqing and Li Fukun and sent them to Kunming.Due to the urgency of the situation, Comrade Li Fukun had no time to make clothes, so he had to use He Qian's luggage.

On April 14, regardless of personal safety, Premier Zhou led the delegation as originally planned to face the scorching heat of the southern country, and resolutely embarked on a voyage to the country of a thousand islands.During his two-day stay in Yangon, Premier Zhou met with Burmese Prime Minister U Nu, Indian Prime Minister Nehru and Egyptian Prime Minister Nasser. On April 16, when Premier Zhou, Vice Premier Chen Yi and all members of the delegation flew from Yangon to Jakarta, another accident happened.When the plane flew over Singapore, it encountered a thunderstorm area. Because the other plane "Kashmir Princess" that the delegation was on was a medium-sized unsealed plane, it could not fly over the thunderstorm area and had to be forced to land.At that time, Singapore had not yet established diplomatic relations with my country, and we knew nothing about the situation at the airport. We were very nervous, mainly worried about the safety of the delegation.Vice Minister Yang and our research opinions decided not to go down, but to wait on the plane.Premier Zhou and Vice Premier Chen agreed with our proposal.When the plane came to a complete stop, the airport boss personally boarded the plane and invited Premier Zhou to rest in the lounge.The prime minister accepted the boss's invitation.When he walked to the door of the lounge, Comrade Liao Chengzhi immediately spotted two Kuomintang agents with familiar faces waiting there.After entering the lounge, Comrade Liao Chengzhi told us to pay special attention to those two people.Due to the tense situation, it was decided that I would be inside, and Comrade Li Fukun stood at the door.However, Premier Zhou was poised and calm.While eating refreshments delivered by the boss himself, he chatted with Governor Macdonald.In this way, we stayed at the Singapore airport for nearly two hours before the plane took off again.And the two agents also left.

When they arrived in Jakarta, the Chinese delegation was warmly welcomed by the Indonesian people and many overseas Chinese. There were crowds of people along the street, waving the national flags of the two countries and shouting slogans such as "Long live China" and "Long live Zhou Enlai".At the same time, a small group of bad guys mixed in the ranks to harass and boo and shout reactionary slogans.The United States also sent a large and complex group of journalists, and the Kuomintang also sent spies to incite a small number of reactionaries to make trouble.In response to this situation, we first informed the Indonesian government of the information we obtained; second, we made it clear that Indonesia was solely responsible for the security of the delegation.As far as we know, the Indonesian government has taken measures to temporarily detain suspects.

On the third day after the meeting (April 20), my embassy in Indonesia received an anonymous letter.The original text of the letter is as follows: After sending this letter to Vice Premier Chen Yi for reading, he said: "They still want to carry out plots, so you should study your opinion first." Therefore, Huang Zhen, Yang Qiqing, Chen Jiakang and the comrades of the security team studied together, and proposed one thing to send to the police. The Prime Minister reported and submitted a memorandum to Indonesia at the same time; the second is to strengthen the security work.The prime minister agreed to submit the memorandum, and said that the safety of the Chinese delegation was entirely the responsibility of the Indonesian government, and asked the Indonesian government to take further effective measures.Vice Minister Yang Qiqing submitted the memorandum to the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with Ambassador Huang Zhen. An emergency mobilization meeting was held within the delegation. Vice Premier Chen Yi spoke and asked all comrades to do security work. He said: "I am also the Prime Minister's bodyguard." Comrade Yang Qiqing made three inner and outer three , The specific and detailed layout of the combination of inside and outside.Once, when the Prime Minister went to meet hundreds of journalists, he had to pass through a crowded area.Comrade Yang Qiqing appointed Comrades Kang Maozhao and Comrades Shen Jian to walk in front of the Prime Minister. He said, you two are diplomats, can understand foreign languages, and are tall and strong. If there is a situation, you can also stand in the way.In this way, every time the Prime Minister goes out, in addition to the existing security deployment, special arrangements must be made according to the specific situation. Through the efforts of all the staff of our embassy in Indonesia and the organized work of overseas Chinese, we have strengthened the security of all aspects. Precautions. At that time, the Indonesian government sent an army captain as a personal security officer to escort seven motorcycles, a platoon leader was in charge, and the driver of the special car was an old man in his 50s sent by the transportation company.Speaking of the old driver, there is another interesting story.According to the comrades from the embassy, ​​when it was said that Zhou Enlai, the Chinese delegation, was driving, four people rushed to come, and the last four people drew lots, and the old man was caught.According to the situation, we made several regulations for them. One is that the car of the head of the delegation should be parked at the residence of the delegation after work; It is that other people can go back after work.At the same time, they paid great attention to their life and rest, and invited them to eat Chinese food. Comrade Yang Qiqing also presented souvenirs to them on behalf of Premier Zhou and Vice Premier Chen Yi.This moved them very much.The old driver and the security officer said that we have lived for such a long time, and we have never seen such an outstanding figure as the Chinese Premier, nor have we seen such an amiable senior official as the Chinese delegation. We are sincerely willing to serve the Chinese delegation it is good. April 24 was a day of great historical significance. The Asian-African Conference unanimously adopted a resolution and issued the "Final Communiqué".Over the past few days, the Prime Minister has been overworked, and we are all very anxious.Often after a full day of meetings, there are still meetings with representatives from various countries, progressive overseas Chinese, and journalists. There are many banquets and activities between delegations from various countries, and they have to work all night until dawn.Every time the Prime Minister came out of the meeting, he was surrounded by dozens of reporters and the crowd, asking for autographs, and some crowded around the Prime Minister for others to take pictures.Because this day was the last day of the meeting, coupled with the tense atmosphere of the meeting, there were a lot of reporters and people waiting outside.Even when the Prime Minister took the time to eat snacks, there were dozens of people around him. Although they could not sign, they took turns standing next to the Prime Minister to ask people to take pictures as a souvenir. The prime minister of a country attending the meeting said that only the great People's Republic of China has such a great prime minister; the Bandung Conference has come to an end, and the flag of the People's Republic of China will always fly in the hearts of the Asian and African peoples.On the closing day, delegations from more than a dozen countries invited Chinese representatives to their celebratory reception.Although Premier Zhou did not rest for more than 10 hours, he was in high spirits at the moment.He actually attended the receptions of delegations from several countries within more than an hour.We were also immersed in the historic joy, and the tiredness of the past few days suddenly disappeared.At that time, I calculated an account. During the 7 days of the Asian-African Conference, Premier Zhou only slept for 13 hours in total.Our guard comrades sleep more than the prime minister, but never take off their clothes, just lean back or lie down on the sofa.I have followed the Prime Minister for more than 20 years, and the most tense moment is the 7 days of the Bandung Conference. The outstanding contributions made by the Chinese delegation headed by Premier Zhou at the Asian-African Conference have been recorded in history.The martyrs who died on the "Kashmir Princess" will always be commemorated by peace-loving people in the world.Just as the Prime Minister predicted, with the passage of time, the spirit of the Ten Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and Development of Friendly Cooperation formulated by the Bandung Conference will become more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and carried forward. Premier Zhou's work spirit will not only live in the hearts of the Chinese people forever, but people all over the world will never forget his immortal contribution to the cause of human progress.