Chapter 16 3. Cold summer

Looking at the diplomatic history of New China, it is not difficult to find that the period from May to August 1967 was an "extraordinary period" for the diplomatic work of the People's Republic of China.Our country has frequent diplomatic conflicts with more than a dozen countries in Asia, Africa, and Europe that have established diplomatic relations with us, and bilateral relations are suddenly in a very tense state.Among them are some neighboring countries that Zhou Enlai and Chen Yi devoted themselves to establishing good neighborly relations when they served as foreign ministers:

On May 22, our Vice Foreign Minister summoned the British Chargé d’Affaires in China, strongly protested the British Foreign Secretary’s rude attitude towards our Chargé d’Affaires in the UK, and announced the cancellation of the arrangement for the British Chargé d’Affaires in China to be stationed in Shanghai… On May 27, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China issued a statement expressing its strongest protest against the anti-China fascist atrocities committed by the Mongolian authorities; On June 10, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China sent a note to the Bulgarian Embassy in China, strongly protesting that the Bulgarian leaders violated the China-Bulgaria student exchange agreement;

On June 17, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a serious warning and the strongest protest to the Indian authorities regarding the atrocities planned by the Indian government to attack our embassy in India; On June 28, my vice foreign minister summoned the Myanmar ambassador to China to strongly protest the atrocities such as the Myanmar government instigated mobs to attack our embassy continuously; On July 1, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China handed over the memorandum of our government to the Myanmar ambassador to my country, sternly rejecting the Myanmar government’s unreasonable demand that the Chinese government stop the Chinese people’s demonstrations against Myanmar’s anti-China atrocities, and once again requesting the Myanmar government to immediately remove the The siege of the Chinese embassy and overseas Chinese residential areas by the Chinese army;

On July 1, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China sent a note to the Kenyan embassy in China, protesting against the Kenyan government's unreasonable declaration of the charge d'affaires of the Chinese embassy in Kenya as "persona non grata"; On July 27, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China sent a note to the Czechoslovakian embassy in China, protesting against Czech leaders for violating the Sino-Czech Cultural Cooperation Agreement; On August 6, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of our country sent a note to the Indonesian Embassy in China, expressing the most urgent and strongest protest against the atrocities committed by the Indonesian military, police and thugs against our embassy in Indonesia again;

On August 14th and 20th, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China sent notes to the British Chargé d’affaires in China, strongly protesting the Hong Kong and British authorities’ provocative incidents in some border areas, and asking the British government to revoke the suspension order for patriotic newspapers in Hong Kong… In terms of international relations, conflicts and conflicts of one kind or another are unavoidable between countries. Even countries that have been friendly for a long time cannot completely avoid friction on individual occasions and individual events.This is because the situations of different countries and nationalities vary greatly. The ideology, political orientation, religious belief, policies, laws, and even customs and habits of each country and people are not formed in a day. reality factor.Therefore, the effective way to deal with state-to-state relations is to maintain and develop normal relations on the basis of the five principles of mutual respect for territorial sovereignty, mutual non-aggression, mutual non-interference in internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. State-to-State relations.It is a pity that the famous "Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence" originally jointly advocated by China, India, and Myanmar were almost completely destroyed in the summer of 1967, resulting in the coldest period in the diplomatic history of New China.It is not necessary to examine and judge the details of each incident at that time, as well as the "responsibilities" of both parties, and there is no need to examine and judge them one by one here. In this conversation, let’s calmly reflect on this heavy history:

"Your Excellency the Chairman talked about the incident in 1967 this morning. As your Excellency said, this incident is indeed very regrettable. The reason for this incident has nothing to do with the border issue. ... You know, in 1967 we were carrying out the 'Proletarian War' The Great Class Cultural Revolution', there are some ultra-left ideological trends,... The direct cause of the 1967 incident was that overseas Chinese were wearing Chairman Mao's badge, causing disputes, which later involved our embassy in Myanmar, and dozens of people were killed and overseas Chinese were arrested. Situation....At the time when the 'Cultural Revolution' movement reached its climax, millions of people came and went in front of your embassy for several days in a row. We were worried that there would be such a violent attack on the Chinese embassy in Yangon Action, rushing in, hurting people. I called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Beijing Garrison to stop the development of the situation. Fortunately, my call was still effective at that time, and your embassy was protected, and nothing happened like our embassy in Yangon. The situation I encountered. Another time, around the beginning of July, the masses influenced by the ultra-left trend of thought held a meeting under the manipulation of the bad guys, and they wanted to attack the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Myanmar Embassy in China. This incident was also blocked by me. "At that stage, the ultra-left trend of thought affected our Ministry of Foreign Affairs....Fortunately, China-Myanmar relations did not develop further at that time. Our relationship with the United Kingdom went further and lasted longer. There was more damage."

This is a conversation between Zhou Enlai in August 1971.The central meaning of this passage is: the ultra-left ideological trend during the "Cultural Revolution" interfered with China's foreign policy, it damaged China's relations with Myanmar and other countries, and it also damaged our entire foreign work.In his speech, Zhou Enlai specifically mentioned that the relationship between China and the United Kingdom suffered more and greater damage, referring to the major foreign-related incident of "burning the British agency in China" that occurred in Beijing at the same time.Just a few days before this incident, the rebels in the foreign affairs department announced without authorization to "seize power" in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, making the diplomatic power directly held by Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou since the founding of New China go out of control for several days (in the diplomatic Before the "seizure of power" by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the ultra-left ideological trend had seriously affected the entire foreign affairs work, resulting in the above-mentioned series of serious consequences), until the "burning" incident occurred.Regarding the ins and outs of the "seizure of power" by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we need to go back and start from the front...

Just after Mao Zedong criticized the "extreme leftists" to harass "Duke Zhou" with rumors in May, the rebels in foreign affairs outlets did "quiet" for a while.Due to the situation, some rebel organizations had to carry out internal "rectification" and "review" on the words and deeds of bombarding the Prime Minister.Even so, foreign affairs rebels still cannot forget the "problem" of Chen Yi of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.During this period, although Chen Yi was ordered to "ask for leave for review" due to the "February countercurrent" problem, under Zhou Enlai's careful arrangements, he still often appeared on some diplomatic occasions, or accompanied Zhou Enlai to the airport to pick up guests, or served as foreign minister. Receive foreign guests alone.

In late June, Zambian President Kaunda paid a state visit to China.During a banquet, Han XXX, the head of the Red Guards organization of the Beijing Aeronautical Academy (one of the famous "Five Leaders" of the Red Guards in Beijing universities and colleges), who had nothing to do with the foreign affairs system, took the opportunity to toast Chen Yi said: "Mr. Chen, we shouted to knock you down, not really to knock you down, but to 'beat' you to Chairman Mao's revolutionary line." Boss Chen couldn't help but get angry when he heard the words, and his eyes widened.At this time, I suddenly saw Premier Zhou hinting with his eyes: Pay attention to the influence on diplomatic occasions.As a result, the foreign minister quickly regained his composure. He kept his composure and did not say a word, embarrassingly leaving this mighty rebel leader aside.

A few days later, Premier Zhou announced to the rebels in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Comrade Chen Yi is busy with foreign affairs work and cannot go down ("inspection").You insist on criticizing "mistakes", and I agree, but I have already said that you can raise your opinions on Comrade Chen Yi's "problems", and I can also come to listen to your opinions, but the Central Committee has not made a conclusion on this. You cannot impose upon me.Even if you criticize "mistakes", you must present the facts and reason, and you cannot just declare "overthrow" at every turn.When the rebels proposed a "review" of what happened in May, Premier Zhou waved his hand and smiled easily: "I don't listen, I don't care about these things. If I care about these things, will I still do this job? Young people, You are allowed to make mistakes."

Our Prime Minister, with his broad mind, once again tolerated the young people who made mistakes repeatedly. In July of this year, a major event that shocked China and the rest of the world broke out on the land of China—the "July 20" incident in Wuhan.The incident was triggered by Xie Fuzhi and Wang Li, who were sent by the central government to Wuhan to deal with the problem.Wang Li, a member of the Central Cultural Revolution, issued a "statement" in support of a certain rebel point of view without authorization, which aroused strong dissatisfaction and anger among the masses of the other faction. Wang Li was dragged into a debate and injured in the confusion.In order to protect the personal safety of Mao Zedong in Wuhan and properly handle the disputes between the two local factions, Zhou Enlai, regardless of personal danger and fatigue, traveled frequently between Wuhan and Beijing by plane, and finally transferred Mao Zedong and rescued Wang Li.This was originally an event triggered by many accidental factors, among which, Wang Li himself, as the representative of the central government, had an inescapable responsibility.However, Lin Biao and Jiang Qing had their own ulterior motives, and used this to make a big "article" to exert high pressure on the leaders of the Wuhan Military Region and a certain mass organization; Time became famous and became the "glorious representative of the Central Committee" who "correctly handled" the Wuhan issue.It was this Wang Li who played an extremely disgraceful role in issues such as the "seizure of power" by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On July 25, just as Zhou Enlai was leaving Beijing for Wuhan, the Red Guards from some colleges and universities at the Foreign Affairs Office ignored Premier Zhou’s repeated criticisms and warnings, and formed a thousand people to “catch Chen’s army” and flocked to “set up camp” in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ", claiming: Unless the "three anti elements" Chen Yi is handed over, the troops will never be withdrawn.In response to this action, Xie Fuzhi, Vice Premier of the State Council, Minister of Public Security, and Director of the Beijing Municipal Revolutionary Committee (Xie returned to Beijing from Wuhan on July 22), and Qi Benyu, the Central Cultural Revolution Team, not only did not take any effective measures. Instead, they went to the "camp" to "consolate" the "revolutionary action" of the Red Guards!As a result, there was no peace around the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for several weeks, and there were endless noises day and night, which seriously hindered normal foreign affairs activities. On the evening of August 7, Wang Li (who returned to Beijing on the same day as Xie Fuzhi), who was injured by the Wuhan incident, dragged his injured leg and "summoned" representatives of the "Revolutionary Rebel Liaison Station" of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to listen to their "report" on the movement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.The representatives of the rebel faction, who have always been obsessed with Chen Yi's issue, based on their "intuition", felt that the conversation with this Central Cultural Revolutionary member was very interesting and speculative, so they confided their thoughts and dissatisfaction, etc.: We believe that Chen Yi is the largest person in power in the party who is taking the capitalist road. According to his "three antis" words and deeds, it is a contradiction between the enemy and ourselves; our slogan is: "Swear to fight Chen Yi to the end!" Regarding the views on Chen Yi's issue , We have talked with the Prime Minister many times, but there is still a lot of resistance to the movement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ... At this time, Wang Li interjected: "There is a lot of resistance to the movement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? (contemptuously): Diplomacy is bluffing, others can't do it, it's great, it's mystified, only a few experts can do it. Is your diplomacy so difficult? Red Guards Can't you do diplomacy? Some people say that your direction and route are wrong, but Chen Yi's direction and route are right?" When "reporting" that the "capitalist party in power" at the current Ministry of Foreign Affairs hadn't really been defeated, and the business work was still handled by the original team, Wang Li suddenly asked a series of questions: "You seized power in January, how much power did you seize? How much power did you have for 'business supervision'? Can you 'supervise'? The party committee team of the ministry did not move, did it? The revolution did not move the team? Such a big revolution, it is okay to not move the team? Why? Can't move the team?...Didn't the Prime Minister talk about the "three combinations" of the old, the middle and the young? Why can't the team of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs engage in the "three combinations"?" The rebels replied: "Some people criticize the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for taking too much power, saying that the business power belongs to the central government..." Wang Li (extremely excited): "This is wrong! Revolution and business cannot be separated! I think you don't really have real power now, and you have a little real power to have prestige. The current Ministry of Foreign Affairs is still the same staff, intact. Then 'civilization 'Ah? This is doing revolution! (Doing diplomacy) is not necessarily the original 'leader'. Whoever stands up for revolution and whoever is suitable will do it. For those who are not revolutionary and do not support the chairman's revolutionary line, no matter what level they are, What qualifications, what's 'long', all down! Some people don't agree with the slogan 'Down with Liu (Shaoqi), Deng (Xiaoping), Chen (Yi)', why can't they shout it? It's been more than a year since the Cultural Revolution, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs actually It is thought-provoking to see such strange phenomena appear.” When talking about Chen Yi's "problem", Wang Li thought: "Chen Yi should come to the masses to accept criticism. What's wrong with the masses shouting slogans? Of course it is right to arrest Chen Yi's general direction, why not? He made a mistake. If you don’t come to the masses to accept criticism and inspection, you can get caught... The problem of method is secondary, don’t exaggerate the problem of other people’s method and make it so serious!” Finally, the rebels also mentioned very aggrievedly that the rebels checked their mistakes on the Prime Minister's issue during the internal "rectification", but some comrades felt "depressed"; Months, "checked" several times... Wang Li said disapprovingly: "The 'rectification movement' should increase the ambition of the revolutionaries and get rid of their faults; but it cannot wear down their vigor. How much do you have to check? Their problems are so serious, how much have they checked?... What do you have? Going too far? I don’t think there is anything going too far. The Cultural Revolution Group always supports the revolutionaries! The revolution cannot be abandoned halfway, so I firmly support you and carry the revolution to the end!” The above is the main content of the speech of "Wang Baqi", which is jokingly called by later generations.For the rebels who have been feeling "depressed" for several months, this speech is nothing more than a "stimulant", and the stimulating effect can be imagined.In the eyes of the rebels, Wang Li is not only an important member of the Central Cultural Revolution, but also a hero who was honorably injured in the "July 20" incident in Wuhan and returned triumphantly!At this time, no matter how dull-minded people are, they will not ignore such a simple "logic": Wang Li can "represent the central government" in handling all issues in the Wuhan incident, so why can't he "represent the central government" in the foreign affairs movement? Central" talk?As for many views in Wang Li's speech, they are quite different from Premier Zhou's previous speeches, and he even blatantly refuted some of the Premier's views. All from the Prime Minister! That is to say, from this day on, Zhou Enlai, who was busy with his busy schedule, began to attend the "criticism" meetings of the foreign affairs department continuously.His action of attending the meeting in person was not only to fulfill his past promise, but also to protect his old comrade-in-arms Chen Yi by "accompanying him" to prevent accidents.Due to the large number of foreign affairs outlets, sometimes several "criticism meetings" had to be arranged within a week, and the prime minister was really unable to come out, so he entrusted Li Fuchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and deputy prime minister, to attend the meeting on his behalf; Go there so that you can keep abreast of and master the situation.Prior to this, the Prime Minister also set the "three chapters" on the specific form and method of the meeting, which is equivalent to that of the rebels, namely: the "criticism meeting" should be mainly a small meeting; at the meeting, it is not allowed to shout "Down with" slogans and hang "Down with" slogans; No humiliating actions are allowed, such as engaging in disguised fighting, arresting people, etc... The rebels agreed to these in person.However, since the first "criticism meeting", the rebels have backed their promises and reneged on their promises; they directed a series of pranks to tear up the agreement: At 1:00 p.m. on August 7, Zhou Enlai braved the midsummer heat and drove to the small auditorium of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, preparing to attend the small-scale "criticism meeting" held here.As soon as he walked to the entrance of the venue, he received a report from the chief guard, Cheng Yuangong: There was a big slogan "Down with the Three Anti-Party Chen Yi" hanging in the venue!The prime minister who had already stepped on the stone steps in front of the auditorium immediately stopped and asked the host of the meeting face to face: "I said it well yesterday, and the 'agreement' has been reached, why are you still doing this!" After that, he stood on the steps He stopped moving, insisting that the rebels take down their slogans before entering the arena.In the dog days of Beijing, the sun is scorching like fire.Even standing in the shade of a tree still feels hot and steaming.However, the Prime Minister, who is nearly 70 years old, stood with arms folded under the scorching sun, waiting for the rebels to remove the slogan "Down with it"!After a full hour of stalemate, the rebels knew they were wrong, so they were forced to remove the slogans in the venue... At the second meeting, Premier Zhou was unable to attend the meeting due to foreign affairs. After hearing the news, the rebels who were dazzled by "Wang Baqi"'s speech rushed hundreds of people into the meeting place, preparing to "pull" Chen Yi away. .In order to prevent Chen Yi from "slipping away", the rebels also deflated Chen Yi's car tires... In an extremely urgent situation, Cheng Yuangong, the head of the guard sent by the Prime Minister, temporarily hid Boss Chen in a bathroom. Secretary Qian Jiadong urgently reported the situation to the Prime Minister.In the evening, under the personal arrangement of the Prime Minister, soldiers from the two companies of the Beijing Garrison quickly came to confront and deal with the rebels who were searching for Chen Yi. However, under the protection of Cheng Yuangong and others, Chen Yi withdrew from the back door and replaced the soldiers. The car in the garrison area returned safely to Zhongnanhai. On the afternoon of August 11, the foreign affairs mouth rebels held a meeting of 10,000 people in the Great Hall of the People to "criticize" Chen Yi.This time, Premier Zhou made up his mind to "accompany" him to the end no matter what.Before the meeting, he personally deployed an emergency plan to Commander Fu Chongbi of the Beijing Garrison, and arranged the guards under the rostrum to prevent accidents; at the same time, he repeatedly told Comrade Chen Yi not to leave him easily.According to the "experience" of the previous "criticism meetings", he also "pulled" several rebel leaders to the rostrum, so that he could find someone to counter the case when something happened. Sure enough, when speaking at the conference, a big slogan "Down with Chen Yi" was suddenly hung from the second floor of the venue!Suddenly, the whole venue was in an uproar. ——This was clearly planned in advance!At this time, the Prime Minister did not know the specific content of Wang Li's "August 7th" speech, otherwise, he would not have been shocked by the repeated "breach of contract" actions of such dishonest rebels.Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Zhou Enlai stared at the fidgeting rebel leaders on the rostrum with menacing eyes, and did not speak for a few minutes.Immediately, he stood up angrily and left the stage in public to protest!At the same time, the guards were ordered to protect Chen Yi from the venue.In front of the upright Zhou Enlai, the numerous rebels did not dare to touch a hair on Chen Yi, and watched them leave... Under the protection of Zhou Enlai's sacrifice, Chen Yi went through 8 "criticism meetings", large and small.Although he was in danger several times, he was safe and sound.But Zhou Enlai had a heart attack due to excessive tension and fatigue, and had to inhale oxygen several times.That is, in these days, the slogans and slogans that once silently bombarded Zhou Enlai once again appeared on the streets of Beijing... Instigated by Wang Li's "August 7th" speech, the rebels in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs disregarded Premier Zhou's repeated criticisms and warnings, smashed the Political Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on August 16, and brazenly declared to "seize" the power of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Then, the rebels forcibly closed the offices of all the vice ministers. Ji Pengfei, Qiao Guanhua and other ministerial leaders were locked in the basement to write "reviews" during the day, and they were not released until 8 o'clock in the evening to "report" to the rebels....As a result, the entire diplomatic work fell into chaos, and the diplomatic power that had been held by Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou "fell" into the hands of the rebels. On the day when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs "seized power", Mao Zedong received relevant reports in other places, so he talked about it with ease to a group of visiting foreign guests: Recently, our Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been busy, and they want Chen Yi, Ji Pengfei , Qiao Guanhua down, then who will be the foreign minister and vice minister? ... I am not happy with Chen Yi, but it is also difficult to find a foreign minister!Therefore, I advocate less "bombarding" and not "downing" him. However, at this time, the rebels had already begun to exercise the "powers" of "Minister of Foreign Affairs" and "Deputy Minister": with their "approval", in just a few days, there were dozens of letters with the words "People's Republic of China". The telegrams signed in the name of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Business Supervision Group" were sent to our diplomatic agencies in various countries, and the slogan "Down with Liu, Deng, and Chen" was openly written in it, forcing our embassies abroad to "implement the implementation"... On the evening of August 22, foreign affairs outlets dominated by the ultra-left frenzy - the rebels and some red guards from colleges and universities in Beijing protested against the British government and the British Hong Kong authorities at the "Proletarian Revolutionaries in the Capital Angrily Condemn the Anti-China Crimes of the British Empire". During the mass demonstrations, the basic international relations norms were ignored, and the British Charity Office in China was attacked and burned, creating the most serious foreign-related incident since the founding of the People's Republic of China.It brought huge and irreparable damage to our country's international reputation, and became a "freezing point" in the history of new China's foreign relations. Four years later, in a conversation with General Ne Win, Chairman of the Union of Burma, Zhou Enlai described the Huoshaoying Agency in this way: "The movement developed to August, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also affected by the ultra-left trend of thought. They went in and seized power. The crowd surrounded the British agency in China. We didn’t know about the attack and burning of the crowd. When I knew it, it was too late and the fire started. At that time, we ordered the crowd to leave , Those bad guys don’t listen. An interesting thing is that when we broadcast the order, the British Chargé d’Affaires heard it, and he believed it was our government’s opinion, so he asked our People’s Liberation Army for protection, but he was not injured.” The thing is obvious: the burning of the British Charity Office in China was done by a small group of villains instigated by the ultra-left trend of thought during the "Cultural Revolution".It is also a serious damage to the diplomatic cause of New China created by Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Chen Yi and other revolutionaries of the older generation.Since this act of sabotage occurred shortly after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs "seized power", Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai later repeatedly linked the "burning" incident with the "ultra-leftists" and ultra-left ideological trends in the "Cultural Revolution". Often denounced and criticized. In December 1970, when he began to criticize Chen Boda's crimes against the party and chaos, Mao Zedong mentioned this incident, pointing out: "July and August 1967 failed, and the world was in chaos"; It was a mess, and it lost control for a month and a half, and this power was in the hands of the counter-revolutionaries." In June 1972, during the campaign to expose and criticize Lin Biao’s counter-revolutionary clique, Mao Zedong took this as an example and denounced those “ultra-leftists”: who are our “leftists”?Those who set fire to the British agency wanted to overthrow the Prime Minister today, Chen Yi tomorrow, and Ye Jianying the day after tomorrow; "Leftists"; these so-called "Leftists" are actually counter-revolutionaries. For Zhou Enlai, the first foreign minister of the People's Republic of China and a world-recognized famous diplomat, the burning of the British agency was a "severe pain" in his entire diplomatic career.It is precisely because of this that our Prime Minister directly, appropriately and steadily handled a series of aftermath of this diplomatic incident with the broad-mindedness, tolerance and candor unique to the leaders of the proletarian revolution. In the spring of 1971, with the personal approval of Zhou Enlai and the specific responsibility of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the restoration project of the British Agency in China was completed, and the institutions and staff of the British Agency moved into the new residence.In this regard, Zhou Enlai instructed the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to tell the Chargé d’Affaires to the British Chargé d’Affaires face to face at a reception: The burning of the Chargé d’Affaires’ Office in 1967 was done by a small group of bad people, and the Chinese Party and the government did not approve of it; now, we have repaired it for you. Let's toast to your new home.However, at that time, the comrade was unable to speak out because many foreign envoys were present at the reception.After he came back, Zhou Enlai criticized him and said: You yourself were also a victim of the ultra-left trend of thought at that time, why didn't you say these words?What's the point of speaking in front of ambassadors from other countries?And it should be said out loud!You have all learned Chairman Mao’s several speeches criticizing the burning of the British agency, but you have learned it but not used it, and you have not put it into practice. This is called the influence of the ultra-left trend of thought!We must implement the "Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence" in our diplomatic relations, and both sides are equal.When people come to our country, it is wrong for us to suppress them.It is wrong for the British side to persecute our compatriots in Hong Kong, but it cannot burn its agency because of this.If you mess with him, he can retaliate, but that can only destroy diplomatic relations, or even break them.That is the route of Wang (Li), Guan (Feng), Qi (Ben Yu) and the others....Zhou Enlai's kind teachings deeply moved and inspired this comrade. After that, Zhou Enlai personally summoned the British chargé d'affaires and explained the above meaning to him. The British chargé d'affaires expressed his understanding and gratitude on the spot.In this year, the British government expressed to me its willingness to withdraw the British Consulate in Tamsui, Taiwan, and hoped to negotiate on upgrading the diplomatic relations between China and Britain. In March 1972, in view of the British side’s acceptance of our conditions for the establishment of diplomatic relations, the two countries finally reached an agreement to upgrade the agency from an embassy to an embassy; so far, China and the UK have changed from a “semi-diplomatic relationship” to a “full diplomatic relationship”. The necessary conditions have been prepared for the normalization of relations with China (including the resolution of the Hong Kong issue).