Chapter 15 Chapter 14 Malta - the beating "heart" of the Mediterranean Sea

Actually it is just an island, but it is also a country.If you look for it on a world map, you can't find it; if you look for it on a European map, you can only find the name of the country it specially marked, but you still can't find the appearance of its land. 316 square kilometers, with a population of 420,000... Even if you only look at the Mediterranean Sea, it is still a very small place. The Italian Sicily Island on top of it is obviously hundreds of times larger than it, and even the Tunisian Djerba Island on the lower left You can compare arms with it. Malta is such a country. The fact that it can exist between the mighty Europe and the vast Africa is very remarkable in itself, not to mention that it has an alias of "Mediterranean Heart".During the Chinese evacuation from Libya, this "heart" made us truly feel its extraordinary charm. Every beat of its passion moved 1.3 billion Chinese people.

"As the prime minister, the only thing I can't decide is the weather, and we will do our best for the rest." When the Chinese government asks for this country, their prime minister said such words so sincerely and affectionately.These are the words of a true friend, which embodies a heart full of affection for the Chinese people, and is also a testimony of China-Malaysia friendship... "What I want to say is that during this evacuation, my embassy in Malta can be said to have done a great job of 'a calf pulling a big plow'. If Malta is a tiny country, our embassy in Malta is a tiny embassy It is very difficult to find someone to help us when we are the busiest and most nervous. We cannot find the right person, because there are few Chinese in Malta, and there is only one Chinese-funded company with ten or twenty people. We have received three There were five or six thousand compatriots on a cruise ship. At that time, there were two major difficulties: one was that Malta was a tourist attraction, and there were tourists all year round. We couldn’t find a whole hotel to accommodate our compatriots, and we arranged them scatteredly in various hotels. In this way, the workload has increased several times; the second is that people on two ships cannot go ashore, and they can only stay on the ship and wait to board the plane directly." Ambassador Zhang Keyuan said.

"But we didn't feel that the days in Malta were boring at all. On the contrary, we enjoyed the treatment of a luxury hotel on the sea every day, with hot baths, delicious Chinese food, and playing mahjong and poker..." A member of China Construction Company The workers still keep a set of mahjong tiles given to them by the embassy. As I wrote this, I happened to go online and wanted to check some data, but I accidentally saw a short article written by a reporter from Xinhua News Agency on February 28, 2011 entitled "Don't Say Thank You, Turn Around and Make Contributions".The article says:

The reporter interviewed on the Malta pier on the 27th and saw a volunteer on the evacuation ship, Yuan Zhuocheng, an employee of the Seventh Project Department of China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau.When asked why he became a volunteer, the young man said: "The comrades in the embassy are my saviors, so I am willing to do something for them." Yuan Zhuocheng told reporters about a day he "cannot forget in this life". On February 24, this cruise ship also participated in the evacuation of overseas Chinese. When the overseas Chinese were evacuated at the port of Benghazi, Libya, the cruise ship was already fully loaded, and there were more than 100 Chinese people under the ship who had not boarded the ship.Due to the lack of adequate life-saving facilities on board, according to the provisions of the Maritime Law, the captain did not agree to continue boarding, and Yuan Zhuocheng was one of the more than 100 people. "At that time, I had already stepped on the steps of the suspension bridge and was about to board the ship. The foreign sailor suddenly shouted to us: 'Stop! Stop!' I was stupid, completely stupid!" Yuan Zhuocheng recalled.

After a while, he continued to talk about the boarding experience of the day: "At 9 o'clock in the morning that day, we rushed to the assembly point of the China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau, then retreated to the beach, walked to the berth, and started to line up... By the time we boarded the ship, we had already It was 6:30 in the evening, and I didn't expect to encounter a 'Stop'! At that time, I couldn't describe my mood as 'cold' or 'collapse'. I still can't find the right words to describe my mood at that time. It rains, the wind blows for a while, the sun comes out for a while, I don’t know how many times my clothes are dry and wet, but it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter if my feet hurt and numb, we just want to board the boat and go home, just this wish! Later we saw the young Diplomat Li Hao blocked the cabin door and refused to let the foreign sailors close the door, and an old diplomat on the other side, Counselor Liu Mei, was desperately calling to coordinate, and finally we were able to board the ship with their efforts."

"For more than two hours, you don't know how grateful we were to Li Hao and Counselor Liu! Without them, we might have died in Benghazi." Yuan Zhuocheng was a little choked up when he said this, "During those two hours , We listened to Liu Mei and Li Hao standing in the rain, using their hoarse voices, saying to us over and over again: "Compatriots, don't worry, trust the government, believe that we will not leave anyone behind! Absolutely not!" Yes!' After hearing what they said, although we hadn't boarded the ship yet, we felt relieved. The sea road was also very bumpy overnight, but Counselor Liu and Comrade Li Hao cared for us very much, and we didn't suffer at all. I took a nap. No, now that I’m at the pier, the embassy has no manpower, so I signed up as a temporary volunteer, trying to do my best to serve everyone, in order to repay the life-saving grace of Chinese diplomats.”

This kind of thing happened almost every moment at the evacuation site, and it could be seen and heard.In the words of Ambassador Zhang Keyuan: "The embassy should do everything for compatriots. Our responsibility is to let our compatriots feel the warmth of the country and a sense of security protected by the country when they are overseas." Having said that, the evacuated compatriots actually don't know how much thought and painstaking efforts Ambassador Zhang Keyuan has put in to achieve these things. Sometimes some seemingly ordinary and ordinary things are done in foreign countries. But there are many difficulties.Just say Chinese food.Ambassador Zhang is a caring person. He thinks that his compatriots have already suffered from displacement and turbulence in Libya and on the ship. When they arrive in his territory, they should have a delicious meal, right?So he said to the comrades in the embassy: "In any case, we have to let everyone eat Chinese food." This requirement seems not high, but it would be a big deal in Malta!As mentioned above, there are not many Chinese in Malta, and there is only one Chinese restaurant, which is very small.When Ambassador Zhang handed over the cooking of Chinese food to the small Chinese owner who opened the restaurant, he was frightened: "Every meal needs 1,000 set meals? How can I do it!"

Do it even if you can’t make it, this is a patriotic meal!After the people from the embassy left, several Chinese waiters in the Chinese restaurant discussed and said that they should finish the matter well. "It's our patriotic action!" The little boss persuaded the guys, so let's do it!Good guy, from now on, five or six Chinese guys have engaged in a "kitchen battle" that lasted more than a hundred hours... When Ambassador Zhang and others delivered boxes of delicious Chinese food to the ship, the compatriots didn't mention it What a joy. "A group of compatriots live in local hotels. How to let them rest well and move freely during the few days waiting to board the plane is also a complicated and troublesome matter. For example, they want to go out to relax and play. This is justifiable, but Malta belongs to the EU countries, and illegal immigration is something they are very taboo. Thousands of us came to a small country without any documents. What if someone ran away? Watch it every day It is impossible for them, and thousands of people live scattered. So the embassy had to send people to each hotel to be on duty every day. , and then go to the evening to check whether people have returned to the hotel one by one. Don’t think it’s a big deal, but Jin Songbao and the others are exhausted! The responsibility is big, running away or losing one is a big deal, and there is our Chinese The solemn commitment between the government and the Maltese government. When we asked the Maltese government, we promised them that there would be no incident of illegal immigration.” Ambassador Zhang Keyuan was very satisfied with the work of his subordinates, “We did not appear One question. Thanks also to my compatriots, who are very self-aware."

Getting compatriots on the plane home in a timely and orderly manner is still the fundamental and key to the evacuation mission.Here is a detail that needs to be explained: the five or six thousand compatriots who were evacuated to Malta all came from the Benghazi and Misrata areas, which were the two most chaotic places in Libya at that time.When boarding the ship, the compatriots almost did not go through any security check procedures, and boarded the ship with only a temporary certificate or even a collective list of the unit.Most of them are ordinary workers, hard-working workers who know how to live. At the moment of fleeing for their lives, many of them still did not forget to bring their food and work with them.Now that they are about to board the plane and go home to see their relatives, they are still unwilling to give up the wooden brushes, pliers, flashlights and other belongings that are with them in life and death...

Sun Yinglai is a cadre of the party committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was sent to the front line during the evacuation operation and became one of the 14 temporary supplementary team members.Xiao Sun's job is in Malta, and he assists the embassy in handling matters such as the boarding of compatriots. "I received an order from the Ministry on the 24th, and arrived in Malta on the 26th. After that, I worked intensively for eight days and nights... I went to the local airport every day to contact and confirm the departure and landing times of domestic flights, and then returned to the port immediately. Or the hotel organizes the evacuees to go to the airport to board the plane. Malta is a small country and the airport is also small. When our plane appears at the airport, the locals and tourists will exclaim: "Wow, a big plane is coming!" Although the big plane is for Malta It was a pleasant surprise, but it also caused a lot of trouble for the airport. Every time our plane needs to be refueled, we have to use two refueling trucks. Eight to nine large planes took off and landed. Just imagine how many things have to be coordinated with the airport! Fortunately, the relevant authorities in Malta are hospitable and provide us with as much convenience as possible. But the most difficult thing is how to organize our own team to go to the airport and board the plane , and let the compatriots feel no grievances at all, and always go home in a happy mood. This is how we do it: at the airport ahead, we first complete the list and certificates of every person who is going to board the plane, and then notify Compatriots living in hotels or on ships are prepared, and I hope that they will consciously cooperate with airport security related matters, and give up as much as possible those belongings that are not suitable for boarding the plane; before boarding the bus, each person will be given a small national flag so that they will not be separated when they move ; When departing, each car has staff and volunteers sent by the embassy to lead the way for everyone, and each convoy is cleared by a local police car; Compatriots with small flags lined up neatly to enter the airport and pass the security check. A foreigner asked me strangely: "Why do you always hold the national flag? The national flag represents the image of a country's government, and none of your people look like the president." and senior government officials.’ I replied to him: ‘Yes, I raise our national flag to represent the Chinese government. Our Chinese government is here to pick up compatriots evacuated from Libya. Although they are not the president or senior government officials, they They are from our country, so they enjoy the treatment of state guests.' When foreign friends heard this, they held out their thumbs in admiration and said, 'You China is amazing!'" Sun Ying said.

Teams of Chinese compatriots boarded the large planes of their motherland under the guidance of the five-star red flag.They waved the five-star red flags in their hands from time to time, and this emotion was strongly infected inside and outside the Malta airport. Countless foreign citizens and reporters cast admiring glances and praises at the Chinese: "China is really powerful!" Martin Fletcher, an American NBC reporter, was also at the Malta airport in those few days. He later wrote an article "After Observing the Chinese Evacuation Site", which had more than 100,000 hits on the Internet that day.He wrote: I was waiting for my plane at an evacuation hub in Malta, thinking about the comparison.Hundreds of Chinese workers wearing red hats lined up in a quiet and orderly line; the team leader held a red and yellow Chinese flag, looking like a tour group during a holiday.They are very obedient to orders, lined up in a long line, and slowly move forward when called; order, like an unstoppable army of ants striding through the distribution center.It's really different from Americans. No one wears earphones or plays with digital devices such as mobile phones. They were all thin, and none of them were fat.Their bags were bound up in cellophane, and some were wearing orange smocks and orange construction hats.They are all workers in Libya's oil fields, railways, construction, and communications industries. The Chinese government chartered a fleet of planes to take them back to Beijing and Shanghai quietly and efficiently.There was no mess in the team.There seems to be an unwritten agreement between the government and the workers: you work outside and I cover you from behind.Thousands of workers dotted across the continent represent China's industry, investment, and even diplomacy.Most importantly, they represent China's national power. What really shocked me was the efficiency, order and quietness of the evacuation.No one is discussing flights, opposing orders, banging and banging lots of bags and sacks.They are a silent stream, waiting patiently to be told what to do and where to go.Seeing this makes me wonder, is this the future?Workers rushed to the forefront, and their government spread its wings to protect them, no matter where they went... This single line of more than two hundred people lined up in a circle in the airport duty-free shop, and no one took a look at the luxury goods on display. They were just waiting for the Chinese flag-bearers to raise their arms and tell them to move forward.I don't know whether my heart is full of admiration or trembling.I think we'd better pull them to our side. It is said that Mr. Martin Fletcher used to discredit China's image in NBC's work, but this time he looked at China squarely when he was in Malta. China Eastern Airlines is mainly responsible for transporting the compatriots in Malta at the transit point to return home.Many Chinese compatriots do not know that there is no air traffic between my country's civil aviation and Malta airport, so every crew of China Eastern Airlines involved in the evacuation mission is specially selected to provide the safest and best service at an altitude of 10,000 meters. They even All the company's chief pilot and secretary of the flight department were transferred to carry out this mission. "The journey home after thousands of miles is peaceful and comfortable. The whole family returned home safely, thanks to my motherland." Zhou Yixuan, who was only 21 days old at the time and was personally issued by Zhang Keyuan, my ambassador to Malta, and his wife, is now able to babble. Okay, the little guy often speaks these few words taught by his parents clearly in his mouth.At this time, the whole family always has endless warm stories...