Chapter 52 4. China’s concessions brought the negotiations to an end

After Eisenhower was elected President of the United States, Stalin issued a proposal to cooperate with the United States to end the Korean War. In February 1953, the United States learned that the second half of the upcoming seventh session of the UN General Assembly might raise the issue of exchanging wounded and sick prisoners of war between the two sides of the Korean War.If the United States proposes or supports such programs, it will be in a politically active position.Moreover, on December 13, 1952, the International Red Cross adopted a resolution to exchange sick and wounded prisoners of war before the armistice in accordance with the spirit of the Geneva Convention. Clark, commander-in-chief of the "United Nations Army", supported the resolution at the time.Against this background, Clark sent a letter to Kim Il-sung and Peng Dehuai on February 22, 1953, in accordance with the instructions of the U.S. authorities, suggesting "immediate repatriation of seriously ill and seriously injured captured persons who are fit for travel."Clark's proposal shows that the United States wants to return to the negotiating table.

Previously, Qiao Guanhua, who returned to Beijing, analyzed the future of the armistice negotiations, and suggested that it is better to remain still than to move, and to let the status quo drag on until the United States is willing to compromise and take action.Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai agreed with Qiao Guanhua's opinion.After Clark's new proposal was put forward, Mao Zedong's conclusion was still that it is better to remain still than to move, let the status quo drag on, and wait for a period of time before discussing. On March 5, 1953, Stalin died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage.The new leader of the Soviet Union should be committed to solving internal problems and hope that the Korean War will end as soon as possible, and the North Korean side also has this willingness.When the Chinese government delegation headed by Zhou Enlai went to the Soviet Union to attend the funeral of Stalin, China and the Soviet Union had many consultations on the North Korean issue and solicited the opinions of the North Korean side, and decided to make a concession on the repatriation of prisoners of war in order to strive for the realization of the Korean armistice .

On March 28, the DPRK and China sent a letter of reply to Clark in the names of Kim Il-sung and Peng Dehuai, expressing their agreement with the other party’s proposal to exchange sick and wounded prisoners of war during the war, and at the same time proposed that this number of steps “should lead to all The smooth settlement of the prisoner of war issue has enabled the realization of the Korean armistice longed for by the people of the world." On March 30, Zhou Enlai issued a statement on the Korean armistice negotiations in his capacity as Premier and Foreign Minister of the State Council.The statement on the solution to the prisoner of war problem made the point:

With regard to the question of prisoners of war, the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have always held and still hold that prisoners of war will be released and repatriated after the armistice only in accordance with the provisions of the 1949 Geneva Convention, especially Article 118 of that Convention, It is a reasonable solution without delay.However, considering that the differences between the two parties on this issue are currently the only obstacle to the achievement of the Korean Armistice, and in order to satisfy the peaceful wishes of the people of the world, the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea adhere to the consistent peace policy and make consistent efforts In order to quickly realize the Korean armistice, strive for a peaceful solution to the Korean issue, and maintain and consolidate world peace, we are prepared to take steps to eliminate differences on this issue in order to promote the Korean armistice.For this purpose, the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea propose that the negotiating parties should guarantee the immediate repatriation of all prisoners of war in their custody who insist on repatriation after the armistice, and transfer the remaining prisoners of war to neutral countries to ensure their repatriation a just solution to the problem.

It must be pointed out that our proposal does not abandon the principle of Article 118 of the Geneva Convention that prisoners of war shall be released and repatriated without delay after the armistice, nor does it admit that there are so-called prisoners of war who refuse to be repatriated as mentioned by the United Nations Army. Only because the end of the bloody war in Korea and the peaceful settlement of the Korean issue is an issue related to the peace and security of the people of the Far East and the world, we have taken this new step and are prepared to be suspicious and afraid to go home under the intimidation and oppression of the other side. The captured personnel of our side proposed to be transferred to a neutral country after the armistice, and after relevant explanations, to ensure that the issue of their repatriation can be resolved justly, and will not hinder the realization of the armistice in North Korea.

Zhou Enlai once explained the method adopted by the governments of China and North Korea.He said that the armistice negotiations have been going on for almost two years, and the United States has adopted a policy of procrastination in the negotiations, negotiating what is beneficial to him, and delaying what is unfavorable.And we have consistently adhered to the policy of peacefully resolving the North Korean issue in all negotiations.Because the US insists on its principle of "voluntary repatriation" arbitrarily and unreasonably, we cannot compromise with him.When he bluffs and scares people, we must resolutely push back.It is right for us to stick to the principle, but we can’t be stagnant, so we gave up a step in time and divided it into two steps to achieve it.The prisoner repatriation plan we proposed is different from the American plan and the Indian plan. Our plan is to hand over to a neutral country.Under such circumstances, the resumption of negotiations is decided, and the possibility of ending the war is greatly enhanced, but the possibility of fighting still exists.We still have two words, we strive for peace, but we are not afraid of war.

North Korea and China's new proposal on the repatriation of prisoners of war shows flexibility in the repatriation method under the premise of adhering to the principle of repatriating all prisoners of war.This proposal was widely supported by the world public opinion including Britain, France and other countries. It hoped to remove the last obstacle in the armistice negotiations and broke the deadlock in the negotiations. On April 26, the meeting of the delegations of the two sides to negotiate was finally resumed after being interrupted for many days. After the negotiations resumed, the two sides had another dispute over the nomination of a neutral country.The US and South Korea also attempted to immediately release North Korean prisoners of war who were not directly repatriated after the armistice, which is still tantamount to detaining prisoners of war.The DPRK and China resolutely oppose all attempts to detain prisoners of war directly or in disguise.In order to combat the United States and South Korea's obstruction of the armistice negotiations, the Volunteer Army launched a summer offensive campaign to promote negotiations and strive for a reasonable settlement in the negotiations.

With the cooperation of the Volunteer Army’s offensive on the battlefield, on June 8, the negotiating parties finally reached an agreement on the issue of prisoners of war. The United States basically accepted the proposals of the DPRK and China on the nomination of neutral countries and the transfer of prisoners of war.According to this agreement, all prisoners of war who are not directly repatriated shall be released under the military control of the detaining party within 60 days after the armistice takes effect, and handed over to representatives from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Sweden, and India in North Korea. in the custody of the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission.The country to which the prisoners belong shall have the freedom and convenience to send representatives to explain to all prisoners of war attached to the country for 90 days from the day the neutral country repatriation committee takes over the prisoners.After 90 days, if there are still prisoners of war who have not exercised their right to repatriation, the issue of their handling shall be referred to the political conference for resolution within 30 days.After that, there are still prisoners of war who have not exercised the right to repatriate, and the political conference has not agreed on a solution for them, the Neutral Nations Repatriation Committee shall announce within 30 days that they will be released from the status of prisoners of war, make them civilians, and assist them. They go where they applied to go.

So far, all the issues in the armistice negotiations have been reached, and then the final preparations for the signing of the armistice have been transferred.The time for signing, both sides invariably chose June 25th - the third anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. Unexpectedly, at this time, South Korea’s Syngman Rhee authorities premeditatedly “released” 27,000 Korean People’s Army prisoners of war in the early morning of June 18 because they were dissatisfied with the POW agreement reached between the United States and North Korea and China. In fact, they did not go through due process. Instead, these prisoners of war were forcibly detained in South Korea.In order to combat this fraudulent behavior by the US and Lee troops, Mao Zedong and Peng Dehuai decided to postpone the signing and fight another battle to punish the South Korean authorities.The mighty Battle of Jincheng started on July 13. The volunteer army broke through the 25-kilometer frontal positions defended by the four divisions of the South Korean Army in one fell swoop, and seized more than 190 square kilometers of land.Under the fierce offensive of the Volunteers, the United States and the South Korean authorities made guarantees to strictly abide by the armistice agreement. On July 27, the Korean armistice agreement was finally signed.

Negotiations on prisoners of war had been considered a relatively simple agenda that would not be an obstacle.But in fact, it turned out to be the most difficult and time-consuming of all the issues to negotiate.From the beginning to the end, there were twists and turns, disagreements, and stalemates. It lasted for more than seven months in a year, twice as long as the sum of the other four agenda items except the prisoner of war issue.The fundamental reason for complicating the simple issue of negotiations lies in the pragmatism of the US authorities.Due to the needs of domestic politics and global strategy, the United States did not want a quick truce, so it came up with various methods to artificially set up a series of obstacles to make simple issues difficult and smooth issues difficult, resulting in prolonged negotiations beyond everyone's expectations.