Chapter 65 Appointment from the top: the post of dean of China Foreign Affairs University is very important

In the summer of 2003, Ambassador Wu Jianmin was ordered to return to China, and was immediately appointed as the president of China Foreign Affairs University.Although this position is suitable for Ambassador Wu, it is somewhat beyond people's expectations. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided that Wu Jianmin would preside over the China Foreign Affairs University because of its own considerations: China Foreign Affairs University is an institution of higher learning affiliated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that trains diplomatic and foreign affairs talents, and is known as the cradle of diplomats.At that time, Mao Zedong founded this college out of strategic considerations, cared for it very much, and placed high hopes on it; from Mao Zedong, Zhou En to Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jintao, every generation of leaders regarded it as a "geomantic treasure" of China's diplomacy and took great care of it. Therefore, The level of the college is also very high.In this sense, Wu Jianmin took office as the dean to strengthen the work of the college, which clearly shows that the central government attaches great importance to him.It can also be seen from the past deans of the China Foreign Affairs University that anyone who can occupy this position is a man of influence in China's diplomatic circles.After the establishment of the college, the first dean was Marshal Chen Yi, who served as the Vice Premier and Foreign Minister of the State Council at that time, and held this position for more than 10 years.Those who held this position later were: Liu Chun, the founding major general who served as ambassador to Turkey, Tanzania, and Egypt; former director of the West Asia and North Africa Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Chinese ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg; Zhang Shu, the diplomat of the Japanese ambassador, Yang Fuchang, the former vice minister of foreign affairs, etc., which one is not a heavyweight in the diplomatic circle?

The central government's attention to Wu Jianmin is naturally inseparable from Wu Jianmin's witty and calm handling style when he was the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is inseparable from the pragmatic diplomatic thinking of the ambassador to France.If the wonderful press conference is due to Wu Jianmin's wit and cleverness, and if the victory at the Geneva Human Rights Conference is supported by collective strength, then there is no shortcut to the work he has done for the development of Sino-French relations . When Wu Jianmin was sent to Paris in 1998, the personal friendship between the leaders of China and France had not yet been truly established. After the "89 Incident", France was the first western country to adopt a policy of isolating China, and then sold arms to Taiwan. Sino-French relations were very tense.Later, after the Balladur government came to power, it readjusted its policy towards China, and the Sino-French relations were improved somewhat, but the exchanges between the Chinese and French governments and peoples still had no progress.Although Chirac adopted a policy of further engagement with China after he became president in 1995, attached great importance to relations with China, visited China twice in 1996 and 1997, and had many talks with President Jiang Zemin, the diplomatic relations between the two countries still remain. Not very strong, and the close relationship between the leaders of the two countries seems to be only cosmetic.The reasons for this are, firstly, the difference in political foundation; secondly, there is not much cultural communication between China and France; thirdly, the level of economic and trade between China and France cannot improve; fourthly, there are too few non-governmental exchanges between China and France.

After Wu Jianmin took office, he did a lot of work in the above aspects.He has extensive contact with people from all walks of life in France, uses all available occasions to explain China's foreign policy, and publicizes the remarkable achievements of China's reform and opening up. Slowly changed their views on China.According to incomplete statistics, within one and a half years since Wu Jianmin took office, he accepted nearly 50 interviews with the news media, attended and participated in luncheons, lectures, debates and other activities and gave more than 20 foreign speeches. Once, Paris Match Pictorial invited Ambassador Wu to have lunch with Bernard Kouchner, then Minister of Health of the Socialist government, to discuss human rights issues.Kouchner is the founder of "Doctors Without Borders", a so-called "human rights fighter" with high prestige in France.He had broken his leg skiing and had come on crutches.Their discussion revolved around the human rights situation in China, democracy and the Tibet issue, and they talked for more than two hours.

As soon as Kushner came, he said that China's human rights situation is not good.However, he admits that he has never been to China, and all his knowledge about China comes from books. Wu Jianmin said that it may be "lame" to draw conclusions based only on book knowledge.Next, Wu Jianmin refuted Kushner's arguments by citing history, real examples, and a large amount of data. Finally, Kushner had to admit that China's human rights situation has improved. Ambassador Wu told Kushner that some people in the West teach human rights lessons to China like a teacher, and the Chinese are disgusted.He told Kouchner that such questions are often raised in China. In the past, when the Chinese were starving and the British and French allied forces burned the Old Summer Palace, no one talked to us about human rights. Today, the Chinese have stood up and the economy has developed. They have come to give us a human rights lesson. Are they defending human rights, or do they have some other purpose?Just a few words made Kushner speechless.

The content of this conversation was later published in the "Paris Match China Special Issue", which aroused strong repercussions in France. The magazine sold 100,000 copies. Since then, Kouchner and Wu Jianmin have also become friends. In the 2001 Olympic bid, Beijing and Paris were competitors. At noon on July 13, the chairman of the Paris Regional Council held a luncheon. People from all walks of life were invited to watch the live broadcast of the IOC voting. Ambassador Wu Jianmin also received the invitation.The French were surprised when Wu Jianmin appeared at the reception.Someone said: "Why do you dare to come? What if China loses?" Wu Jianmin said in a relaxed tone: "If Paris wins, I congratulate you; if Beijing wins, you congratulate me." That night he accepted a total of 14 interviews.The French seemed happy to accept such a peaceful and thoughtful Chinese diplomat.

The friendly attitude of the French people towards China will have an impact on the government's China policy.Therefore, if Chirac may have faced pressure from the French people in developing relations with China in 1997, then when he set foot on the land of Yangzhou, the hometown of President Jiang Zemin in 2000, there was no pressure. It is also in such a harmonious atmosphere that Wu Jianmin will have the confidence to skillfully design the itinerary of mutual visits between Chinese and French leaders starting from their respective hometowns. Wu Jianmin's flexible diplomatic skills and pragmatic style were again confirmed when President Hu Jintao visited Evian in 2003.Although the contact between Wu Jianmin and President Hu Jintao was not long, it made President Hu believe in his identification of Wu Jianmin even more.

Wu Jianmin, the dean of the China Foreign Affairs University who has already taken office, does not mean "retirement", that is not his style.From the first day he took office, he began to summarize China's diplomatic experience over the years and study foreign policy.Recently, when he talked about the characteristics of China's diplomacy in 2003 in the media, he expressed his interest in China's increasing emphasis on "active diplomacy".He believes that an obvious feature of China's diplomacy recently is that it has changed from the past "reactive diplomacy" to more "proactive diplomacy".For example, Premier Wen Jiabao made an emergency visit to Thailand when the domestic SARS epidemic was highly critical, and attended the China-ASEAN Special Summit on Prevention and Control of SARS, which reversed the relationship between China and ASEAN at the time of crisis, and made the ASEAN countries that were also hit by SARS feel that China was right again. Highly responsible countries in the region.In addition, China's performance in resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis and the timely release of the "China's Policy Paper on the European Union" all indicate the success of proactive diplomacy.In Wu Jianmin's view, the new features of China's diplomacy show that "China's new government and leaders are good at turning challenges into opportunities."

People have noticed that Wu Jianmin's job change has highlighted his role as a diplomatic think tank.