Chapter 58 2. The Geneva Conference broke up unhappily

On February 18, 1954, under the impetus of the Soviet Union, the foreign ministers of the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France reached an agreement at the Berlin Conference: "It is proposed that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, the People's Republic of China, and the Republic of Korea Representatives of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and other countries that had armed forces participating in the Korean War and were willing to participate, met in Geneva on April 26, 1954, with a view to achieving a peaceful solution to the Korean question." "It was agreed that at that meeting also To discuss the restoration of peace in Indochina, representatives of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, the People's Republic of China and other interested countries will be invited to participate.” However, the United States insisted on adding an understanding to the agreement: "Whether the invitation to participate in the above-mentioned meeting or the holding of the above-mentioned meeting shall not be considered as implying any diplomatic recognition in the absence of diplomatic recognition." This shows that the United States does not recognize the position and attitude of the government of the People's Republic of China diplomatically.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government attach great importance to participating in the Geneva Conference and have done a lot of preparatory work.In particular, Zhou Enlai began to collect, familiarize himself with, and study documents, telegrams, intelligence, and the situation of the countries in Indochina related to the Geneva Conference since February. On February 27, Zhou Enlai pointed out at the cadre meeting of the preparatory meeting for the Geneva Conference: (1) The Geneva Conference plays an important role in easing international tensions, and China should actively participate in it; It is estimated that there will be little progress, but we should still try to solve some problems.

In early March, Zhou Enlai presided over the drafting of the "Preliminary Opinions on the Estimation and Preparations for the Geneva Conference".Proposed: "We should adopt the policy of actively participating in the Geneva Conference, and strengthen diplomatic and international activities" to break the US government's "policy of blockade, embargo, arms expansion and preparations for war, so as to promote the relaxation of international tensions."The enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China successively approved the "Preliminary Opinions on the Plan for the Peaceful Unification of Korea" and "Various Opinions on the Estimation and Preparations for the Geneva Conference".At the same time, the Chinese government also exchanged views with the North Korean and Vietnamese governments in Beijing.

In April, Zhou Enlai was entrusted by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to visit the Soviet Union, and discussed with the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on matters related to attending the conference. Policies and negotiation plans, as well as cooperation and coordination among delegations from China, the Soviet Union, North Korea, and Vietnam.After full discussion and deliberation, it was agreed that attending such a conference under the international environment at that time could only be watched while walking, adapting to the situation, and finding countermeasures in order to strive for the most beneficial results for international peace.At the same time, Zhou Enlai also repeatedly stated that he should not have too high expectations for the meeting, but he must strive to achieve some kind of result.

On April 19, Chairman Mao Zedong of the Central People's Government formally appointed Zhou Enlai (Premier of the State Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs) as the chief representative of China to attend the Geneva Conference, Zhang Wentian (Ambassador to the Soviet Union), Wang Jiaxiang (Vice Foreign Minister), Li Kenong (Vice Foreign Minister) )to represent.The Chinese government formed a large delegation of more than 100 people to attend the Geneva meeting. Before going abroad, Zhou Enlai held a meeting of all members of the delegation.At the meeting, Zhou Enlai pointed out: "Although we have experience in domestic negotiations and quarrels with the United States in the past, it is a wild stage show, it is lawless, and we are not afraid of anything. It is just that if we fall out; of course we negotiate It’s not for the sake of falling out. That is to say, at that time, the scope of our negotiations was small, and we could talk about what we had. China is a big country, and we are attending a formal international conference in Geneva. We are on the international stage, so we have to sing Literary opera, there are martial arts in literary opera, but it is a regular opera and a stage opera. There are several brothers and countries participating, and they have to cooperate, have to be strict, and have to be co-produced. It is the first time to sing, so it is still necessary to learn Spirit."

On April 24, the special plane of the Chinese government delegation arrived at Geneva International Airport.After the special plane landed, journalists from all over the world flocked to snap up shots.Zhou Enlai, who walked steadily, led the mighty delegation through the crowd to the residence.On the same day, Zhou Enlai delivered an impassioned speech: "Peace-loving people and countries all over the world will pay close attention to the progress of the Geneva Conference and look forward to the success of the conference. The Chinese people have the same expectations for this conference. The People's Republic of China The delegation came to this meeting in good faith. We believe that the joint efforts of the participants and the common desire to consolidate peace will provide the possibility of solving the above-mentioned pressing problems in Asia (North Korea and Indochina issues).”

On April 26, the Geneva Conference opened as scheduled at the League of Nations building.The meeting, chaired alternately by the chief representatives of Thailand, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom, began by discussing North Korea.In addition to the delegations from China, the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain, France, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea, representatives from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Ethiopia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Delegations from countries such as Thailand and Turkey.

According to the prior agreement of China, the Soviet Union and North Korea, on April 27, the representative of North Korea will speak first.At the very beginning, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nam Il put forward a proposal on the restoration of Korean reunification and the organization of free elections throughout Korea, advocating: 1. To hold an all-Korean election for the National Assembly in order to form a unified government of Korea; Representatives selected by the parliament form the All-Korean Committee, one of the tasks of which is to draft a draft of an all-North Korean electoral law and take measures to guarantee the various freedoms of North Korean residents; 2. All foreign armed forces are withdrawn from North Korea within six months; 3. 1. Corresponding countries that have the greatest concern for the maintenance of peace in the Far East must ensure the peaceful development of Korea and create conditions for the peaceful reunification of Korea.South Korean representative Byun Young-tae proposed at the meeting on April 27 that free elections should be held in North Korea under the supervision of the United Nations to elect about 100 seats reserved for North Korean representatives in the South Korean parliament, and demanded that the U.S. troops continue to stay in South Korea.Byun Young-tae's claim is tantamount to the annexation of North Korea by South Korea.

On April 28, Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai made a speech, fully supporting the three proposals made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Korea, and refuting the unreasonable claims made by the representatives of South Korea. Under the condition that the Korean people can freely express their will, it can be realized by holding general elections in the whole of North Korea; in order to ensure the free elections in the whole of North Korea, all foreign troops must first withdraw from North Korea. On April 29, Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov expressed his full agreement with Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai's opinion in his speech, and believed that the proposal of Foreign Minister Namichi was in line with the national desire of the Korean people to restore national unity, and could be used as a basis for solving the Korean issue.

In his speech on April 28, U.S. Secretary of State Dulles opposed the suggestion of the Foreign Minister of South Japan, attacking and slandering the Soviet Union, China, and North Korea.Even the United States is too far away from North Korea, China is too close to North Korea, the Chinese People’s Volunteers can return soon, the United States has learned from North Korea’s withdrawal, and does not want that history to repeat itself, etc., as the reasons why the United States does not want to withdraw from North Korea .He talked too much about the efforts of the United Nations to unify North Korea, and advocated that according to the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly on October 7, 1950, the United Nations Commission for the Restoration of Korean Unification should conduct observations in areas where elections have not yet been held in North Korea in order to complete the unification of North Korea. Imposing illegal resolutions of the United Nations on the conference.

Discussions at the meeting on peacefully resolving the North Korean issue were very sharp and intense.Two very different proposals were put before the participants.Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai realized that discussions on a peaceful solution to the North Korean issue would be difficult. On April 28, he pointed out in a telegram to Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China: "Based on the situation of the three-day meeting, the discussion on the North Korean issue has become a perfunctory situation, because the United States does not intend to solve the problem, and France is inconvenient to the North Korean issue. Speaking, the United Kingdom also said that it did not want to speak." On May 3, the South Il Foreign Affairs Office made further explanations on the three proposals on the restoration of North Korea's unification and the holding of free elections throughout North Korea.In his speech, South Korean representative Byun Young-tae wantonly slandered and attacked China, the Soviet Union, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. He even said that his only dissatisfaction was that the United States had not interfered enough in North Korea, and hoped that the United States would intervene more.Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai then spoke, expressing again his full support for all the proposals put forward by the Foreign Minister of South Korea and Japan, and strongly refuting the absurd arguments of the United States and South Korea.He justifiably pointed out that after the United States launched the armed intervention war in Korea, it manipulated the United Nations to illegally ratify this aggressive action of the United States.That puts the UN in the position of a belligerent in the Korean War, disqualifying it from dealing fairly with North Korea.What the United Nations has done on the North Korean issue has seriously damaged the prestige of the United Nations and deprived the United Nations of its moral strength to deal with the North Korean issue and other Asian issues.Our meeting has nothing to do with the United Nations. It is unreasonable for the U.S. representative to force the North Korean people to implement the illegal resolutions of the United Nations and to allow the United Nations to supervise North Korea's elections.Some people at the meeting tried to use the so-called "open door, equal opportunity" argument to justify US interference in the internal affairs of North Korea and other Asian countries. History has proved that this is a means of imperialism's expansion policy.The representative of the United States refused to agree to withdraw all foreign troops at the same time on the grounds that China and the United States were far away from North Korea. People can't help but ask, since the United States can send troops to invade North Korea from thousands of miles away, why can't it withdraw its troops by the same route now?Some people say that after the withdrawal of all foreign troops North Korea will not be able to maintain a peaceful state. This is unfounded. In order to prevent the Korean War from recurring, the Foreign Minister Namichi has suggested that the countries concerned should ensure the peaceful development of North Korea.The three proposals of Foreign Minister Namichi should serve as the basis for an agreement at this conference.Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai also exposed the serious violation of the Geneva Convention and the Korean Armistice Agreement by the United States and South Korea by forcibly detaining more than 48,000 prisoners from North Korea and China. In order to promote the progress of the meeting, and in the spirit of trying to find a way to reach an agreement, Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai pointed out again at the meeting on May 22 that the United Nations has been placed in the position of a warring party in North Korea, and has lost its qualification and morality to deal with the North Korean issue fairly. Power, the United Nations has never been in such a humiliating position as in the North Korean incident, the illegal resolutions of the United Nations cannot be used as the basis for a peaceful solution to the North Korean issue; the withdrawal of all foreign troops from North Korea is the result of the Korean people's free will in the national elections without external interference preconditions, for which the Conference should reach appropriate agreement.Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai also suggested that in order to assist the All-Korean Committee to hold all-North Korea elections under the free conditions of excluding foreign interference in accordance with the All-North Korea Election Law, a neutral country supervisory committee should be established to supervise all-North Korea elections.The Namil Foreign Affairs Office agreed with the proposal of the Chinese representative. On the same day, South Korean representative Byun Young-tae put forward a so-called fourteen-point proposal, the main contents of which were: 1. Free elections should be held under the supervision of the United Nations in accordance with the previous resolutions of the United Nations on the North Korean issue; 2. According to the Constitution of the Republic of Korea The procedures are to hold elections throughout North Korea; 3. Before, during and after the elections, the United Nations personnel supervising the elections have full freedom of movement and speech in the entire region of North Korea; calculation; 5. The current constitution of the Republic of Korea will continue to be effective unless it is amended by the former North Korean Legislative Assembly; 6. All Chinese troops will withdraw from North Korea one month before the election, but the United Nations troops will only withdraw after the election and completion of reunification; 7. North Korea Integrity and independence shall be guaranteed by the United Nations.U.S. Representative Smith immediately expressed support for the proposals.Obviously, South Korea's proposal is essentially to impose the political system of the Republic of Korea on the entire Korean people, and South Korea annex North Korea. On June 5, Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai solemnly pointed out at the meeting that South Korea attempted to use the United Nations and foreign armed forces to manipulate North Korea's elections and extend Syngman Rhee's rule to the entire North Korea.The United Nations was a belligerent in the Korean War, and the elections should not be supervised by the belligerent, but should be properly supervised by the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission for free elections throughout North Korea.And reiterated that all foreign troops must withdraw from North Korea before the election.At the same time, Zhou Enlai pointed out that although differences among the participating countries still exist, the basis for a peaceful solution to the North Korean issue can be found.Everyone said that North Korea should be unified, free elections should be held throughout North Korea, and the purpose of the meeting was to resolve the North Korean issue peacefully.We should work hard to reach an agreement on these common grounds, and we should not allow the South Korean representative's proposal to become an obstacle in our pursuit of an agreement.On the same day, Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov proposed to hold free elections in all of Korea, establish an All-Korean Committee composed of representatives from North and South Korea, withdraw all foreign troops before the elections, establish an international committee to supervise the elections, and undertake the obligations of relevant countries to ensure the peaceful development of North Korea. Wait for five suggestions.The five proposals synthesized the common points of the opinions expressed by the representatives of the participating countries, and put forward the basic principles for peacefully resolving the North Korean issue.But U.S. Representative Smith (U.S. Deputy Secretary of State) objected to these proposals. On June 11, Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai expressed his full support for Molotov's five proposals in his speech, exposing Smith's plot to interrupt the discussion on the North Korean issue.He pointed out that the purpose of Smith's pursuit is to make the truce in North Korea more unstable.Since we already have quite a few unanimous and close to unanimous opinions, we should affirm the already unanimous and possible unanimous opinions, and then continue to discuss the points of disagreement in order to reach a complete agreement on various issues.It is absolutely necessary to set up an all-Korean organization that includes representatives from both North and South Korea, because all-Korean elections are the affairs of the Korean people themselves, and no one can handle them for them.The work of the Supervisory Commission of Neutral Countries in North Korea has achieved results, and the principle that an international committee composed of neutral countries to supervise the elections in North Korea should be affirmed.This is the reasonable path that this Council should follow in order to resolve the North Korean issue peacefully.There is no reason why we should not continue discussions and seek an agreement on Molotov's proposal. Due to differences in principle among the delegations on how to resolve the North Korean issue, mainly the United States and South Korea were firmly opposed to the withdrawal of troops, insisted that the United Nations agencies supervise the elections in North Korea, and did not want to seek a solution outside the United Nations, which made it difficult to reach an agreement at the meeting.The United States is coercing countries participating in the "United Nations Army" to draft a declaration to undermine the discussion of the North Korean issue at the Geneva Conference.It is said that this manifesto is ready to be thrown out at the meeting on June 15.In response to this situation, on June 14, representatives of China, the Soviet Union, and North Korea held a meeting to discuss countermeasures. Immediate rupture is enough to put the other party at a disadvantage.The lower the proposals of China, the Soviet Union, and the DPRK, the more passive the other party will be, the more difficult and unreasonable it will be for the other party to break up, and the more responsible the other party will be for the breakup. At the last meeting on June 15, North Korea, China, and the Soviet Union made their final efforts according to the plan agreed in advance.The DPRK Foreign Minister Nam Il spoke first. He pointed out that if the meeting fails to reach an understanding on the issue of realizing Korean reunification through free elections, then we should also reach an understanding on some other important issues, first of all on maintaining peace in North Korea.He put forward six suggestions to ensure the peaceful state of North Korea: 1. Suggest that the governments of the relevant countries take measures to withdraw all foreign troops from North Korea as soon as possible in accordance with the principle of proportionality; The military strength of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea shall not exceed 100,000 troops; 3. A committee shall be formed by representatives of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea to study and create conditions for the gradual lifting of the state of war and transfer the armies of both sides to peacetime status and other issues, and suggested that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea conclude a corresponding agreement; 4. It is believed that regardless of North and South Korea, it is incompatible with the interests of the peaceful reunification of Korea to conclude treaties involving military obligations with other countries ; 5. In order to create conditions for bringing North and South Korea closer together, establish an All-Korean Committee to formulate measures for the establishment and development of economic and cultural relations between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea, and to implement the agreed measures; 6. Consider that It is necessary for the participating countries of the Geneva Conference to ensure the peaceful development of Korea and thereby create favorable conditions for an expeditious solution to the task of peacefully reunifying Korea into a unified, independent and democratic country.Then Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai made a speech, arguing that the proposal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Japan provided the basic conditions for ensuring the peaceful development of North Korea.It also suggested "holding a restricted meeting with the participation of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, France, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and the Republic of Korea to discuss measures to consolidate peace in North Korea."In his speech, Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov pointed out that in addition to the suggestion of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Japan, it is recommended that the participating countries issue a joint declaration, "The countries participating in the Geneva Conference have agreed to wait for the Korean issue before establishing a unified, independent and democratic country. During the period of the final settlement on the basis of the DPRK, no action may be taken that would constitute a threat to the maintenance of peace in the DPRK. The participants expressed confidence that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea will act in the interests of peace in accordance with this Declaration." Three speeches and three proposals by representatives of North Korea, China, and the Soviet Union disrupted the deployment of the United States to forcibly end the meeting.After the speech of Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov, the meeting took a forty-minute break.After the resumption of the meeting, the venue became more active and the debate became more intense, almost reaching a fever pitch.U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Smith was the first to speak, refusing Molotov's proposal on the pretext of Article 62 of the armistice agreement, and believed that there were institutions and means to maintain peace in North Korea.While opposing Nan Ri's proposal, the Australian representative believed that Molotov's proposal was generally acceptable.In his speech, the representative of the Philippines emphasized the power of the United Nations to maintain collective security and the legitimacy of all UN resolutions and actions in North Korea.The Belgian representative said he did not want the meeting to end and the world would be disappointed if no agreement could be reached.He was "very satisfied" with the Soviet representative's proposal, and believed that "this declaration will have good effects all over the world." If it hadn't been for the opposition of the US representative, he would have voted for it long ago.The U.S. representative was very passive at the meeting, so Prince Wang, the representative of Thailand, proposed the "Declaration of the Sixteen Nations" on behalf of the representatives of those countries participating in the "United Nations Army", claiming that the representatives of the communist countries refused to recognize the authority and functions of the United Nations in North Korea and refused to participate in the United Nations Army. Free elections will be held under the supervision of the United Nations, therefore, it will be useless for this meeting to continue to consider and study the North Korean question, and it is considered that the United Nations should be informed of the progress of this meeting. The presentation of the "Declaration of the Sixteen Nations" indicated the breakdown of the conference.In order to save the failure of the meeting, Zhou Enlai made one last effort.He pointed out that the "Declaration of the Sixteen Nations" categorically stated that we would suspend our meeting, which cannot but make us feel great regret.The representatives of the United States and some of its supporters not only deliberately obstruct the peaceful reunification of Korea, but also want to prevent the Geneva Conference from reaching any agreement on the maintenance and consolidation of peace in Korea.Even so, the participating countries are still obliged to reach some kind of agreement on a peaceful solution to the North Korean issue.It is suggested that the countries participating in the Geneva meeting reach an agreement: "They will continue to work hard to reach an agreement on the peaceful settlement of the North Korean issue on the basis of establishing a unified, independent and democratic North Korean state. Regarding the resumption of appropriate time and place for negotiations, the relevant countries will separately agree. He said: "If such a proposal is rejected by the relevant countries of the United Nations, then, gentlemen, this spirit of refusal to negotiate and reconcile will leave a very bad influence on the international conference." Foreign Minister Nanri and Foreign Minister Molotov wholeheartedly supported the proposal of Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai.Zhou Enlai once again emphasized in his speech that if the last proposal we put forward today is rejected by the relevant countries on the UN military side participating in the meeting, we will consider it the greatest regret.Representatives of other countries also expressed regret that the meeting failed to make progress.Belgian Foreign Minister Spaak stated that he accepted the proposal of the Chinese representative and was ready to vote.Therefore, as the chairman of the meeting, British Foreign Secretary Eden said, we have a suggestion from the Chinese delegation before us. The Belgian representative is right. This suggestion reflects the working spirit of this meeting. If everyone agrees, can I think this Recommendation has been generally accepted by the meeting?The venue was silent, and no one objected to the chairman's opinion.At this time, US Deputy Secretary of State Smith panicked, stood up hastily and said, I am not going to agree to this proposal without asking the US government for instructions.The South Korean representative went on to say that Belgium cannot represent all the countries that have contributed troops to the United Nations Army, nor can it represent the Republic of Korea.At this time, Eden, as the chairman, had no choice but to propose that this meeting not adopt any documents that had been proposed as a collective agreement of the meeting.However, these meeting documents and statements will become part of the minutes of the meeting.Finally he said resignedly that this was the only thing we could do. The discussion on the North Korean issue at the Geneva Conference, which attracted worldwide attention, was postponed from April 26 to June 15. Fifteen conferences were held in 51 days, but ended without any agreement.Although the United States has achieved its goal of sabotaging the meeting, its true nature of unwillingness to withdraw its troops from North Korea and peacefully resolve the North Korean issue has been further exposed to the people of the world. After the Geneva Conference, the DPRK and China continued to work hard for a peaceful solution to the North Korean issue, and suggested many times to convene an international conference with the participation of relevant countries to discuss the peaceful reunification of North Korea. On September 23, 1954, Premier Zhou Enlai put forward specific proposals in his government work report at the first meeting of the first National People's Congress, advocating following the example set by the Geneva Conference to resolve the Indochina issue, and convening a conference with the participation of neutral Asian countries meeting to resolve the issue of peaceful reunification of Korea as soon as possible. On October 12, the Chinese and Soviet governments stated in their joint declaration: "The two governments believe that it is necessary to hold a meeting to discuss the North Korean issue in the near future, with the participation of all countries concerned." He also pointed out that the Chinese and Soviet governments "On its own side, it will do everything in its power to promote the resolution of various outstanding international issues, including those related to Asia." On August 11, 1955, the foreign ministries (Ministries of Foreign Affairs) of the Chinese and North Korean governments issued separate statements suggesting that the relevant countries hold a Far East Conference with extensive participation from Asian countries to seek a peaceful solution to the Korean issue. On April 9, 1956, the Chinese government, entrusted by the North Korean government, suggested to the British government and through it to the governments of the "United Nations Army" to convene an international conference with the participation of relevant countries to discuss the withdrawal of all foreign troops from North Korea and the peaceful reunification of North Korea. question.However, on May 28, 1956, the British government rejected the above proposal on behalf of the governments of the "United Nations Army". After the Korean armistice, because the United States was unwilling to withdraw its troops from North Korea and to resolve the North Korean issue in a fair and reasonable manner, North Korea and South Korea were in a situation of division and confrontation for a long time, and the issue of peaceful reunification of North Korea remained unresolved for a long time.