Four hundred and thirty nine, Asian and African itinerary
The Bandung Conference, or the starting process of the "Kashmir Princess" case, is roughly like this.
On January 15, 1955, Indonesian Prime Minister Shastro Amizoyo sent a letter to Premier Zhou Enlai, representing the five sponsoring countries - Burma, Ceylon, India, and Indonesia.
Pakistan invites the Chinese government to participate in the Asian-African Conference held in Bandung in mid-April.
On February 10, Premier Zhou Enlai received a formal invitation from the Indonesian government. He sent a reply to Indonesian Prime Minister Shastro Amizoyo on the same day, telling him that the Chinese government decided to participate in the Asian-African Conference.
On February 12, Director Chen, through the State Council Office, requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide a reference plan for Premier Zhou Enlai's trip to Asia and Africa. He requested that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must also keep this plan strictly confidential.
Many years later, on January 10, 2005, the third batch of declassified files from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was released to the public. Among these files was the reference plan for Premier Zhou Enlai's trip to Bandung provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at that time.
There are two itinerary plans provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which are excerpted as follows:
1. There are two ways to fly to Bandung:
A: Charter an Indian plane from Kunming Wujiaba Airport to Singapore or Jakarta via Yangon.
B: First take a Chinese flight from Kunming to Mandalay, a city in northern Myanmar. Then take a Myanmar flight to Singapore via Yangon. Finally, take a British, Indonesian or Dutch flight to Jakarta.
2. Take the Burma Highway:
The total length of the Burma Highway from Kunming to Lashio is 1,157 kilometers, and it takes five days by car. After arriving in Lashio, take a Myanmar plane to Yangon or continue flying to Singapore and then to Jakarta, which takes a total of six to seven days.
Under the above itinerary plan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also specifically stated: The Burma Highway is 964 kilometers long in China, and most of it is a mountain road. Cars (sleeper cars) can generally travel, but it is inconvenient to climb high mountains on rainy days. Jeeps can pass without obstruction. Sleeper cars such as If you drive seven hours a day at 30 kilometers per hour, you can get there in five days. If you speed up a little, you can get there in four days. There is no problem with security on this section of the road. The Yunnan-Burma Highway is 193 kilometers long in Myanmar. The road is flat and can be reached in one day. The Myanmar authorities are very strict in guarding the traffic lines. However, the civilians in the ethnic minority areas where the highway passes have scattered guns, and there may be activities of fleeing reactionary elements from my country, which poses certain security risks.
Judging from the above itinerary plan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has never had the idea of letting the Chinese delegation pass through Hong Kong and take the "Kashmir Princess" to Bandung.
Director Chen carefully studied these two plans. The plan he finally decided on was a combination of the first plan A and plan B by air. That is: take a Chinese plane from Kunming Wujiaba Airport to Yangon, and then fly to
Singapore. If possible, fly directly to Jakarta.
Director Chen secretly discussed this matter with Air Force Commander Liu Yalou. Liu Yalou immediately said that he would wait until he returned to study it carefully before replying.
A few days later, the Air Force Command gave Director Chen a very disappointing reply. The reply mainly included the following points:
First, my country has no international air route from Kunming to Yangon. Air Force pilots have not flown this route, and there are also difficulties in ground communication with Myanmar.
Second, the best aircraft of the Air Force is the "Irashel" military transport aircraft produced by the Soviet Union. If it is used by our delegation, it will need to be modified, which will take about one and a half months. It may not be enough.
Third, the refueling problem of the "Irashel" transport aircraft is difficult to solve. Because the Myanmar aircraft uses British and American aviation fuel, while the "Irashel" transport aircraft uses Soviet aviation fuel.
At the end of the reply, it said: Due to the above problems, the Air Force has certain difficulties in carrying out this flight mission.
Faced with this situation, Director Chen's face became very serious, and he hesitated a little in his heart. Since flying to Bandung via Yangon was not feasible, then the only way left was to take the land route.
From this time on, the preparations for the Chinese delegation to go to Bandung to attend the Asian-African Conference were discussed several times by the central government, but the itinerary still required them to go to Yangon by land and then fly to Jakarta.
However, at this time, another problem arose that Director Chen had never thought of: Premier Zhou Enlai was ill and very serious.
On March 12, Zhou Enlai suddenly felt severe pain in his abdomen at work. The staff around him immediately sent him to Beijing Hospital. After examination, experts diagnosed him with acute appendicitis. That night, Premier Zhou was sent to the operating room.
After the operation, Premier Zhou stayed in Beijing Hospital to rest and was not discharged until March 28.
From the day Premier Zhou was admitted to the hospital, Director Chen began to suffer from toothache, which was unbearable. Even the usually steady "Xiang Bu" became anxious. As soon as he entered Director Chen's office, he frowned and walked around the room.
.This made Director Chen’s toothache even more serious.
"Xiangbu" said: "Old Chen, please think about it again. Is there any other way to go abroad?"
Director Chen covered his face and said: "Whether it is by plane or by land, Myanmar is the only way. This was formed during the Anti-Japanese War! There is no other way."
Director Chen's statement shows that he has never considered leaving the country via Hong Kong.
"Xiangbu" asked again: "There are other ways, even a little detour!"
Director Chen couldn't help but laugh, "Our only international flight is from Beijing to Irkutsk in the Soviet Union. That's a big circle! When those foreigners hear about it, they will laugh out loud!
"
"Xiang Bu" stopped talking. He actually knew the situation.
Director Chen patted the table and said: "What does the Civil Aviation Administration do? How come there is only one international route now! We should have dozens of international routes to be enough!"
"Ministry Xiang" said with a smile: "Only you made this suggestion to the Prime Minister."
Director Chen shook his head. He knew that even if he made this suggestion, it would be for the future and would not be helpful to the current situation.
Another point that Director Chen is worried about is that he heard that some central leaders have suggested that Zhou Enlai cancel this Bandung trip. If it is really canceled, his "Star" plan may also die. The only thing he can do now is
The Ministry of Health was required to inform him about Premier Zhou Enlai's condition once a day.
On March 28, Zhou Enlai was finally discharged from the hospital. Before being discharged, experts from Beijing Hospital specially consulted on Zhou Enlai's condition.
The result of the expert consultation is that "the wound is recovering very well. However, I heard that the Prime Minister will go out for work in the near future and will need to take a long-distance car ride. The experts recommend the following: (1) Take an hour's rest after riding for two to three hours. (2) The abdomen should be wrapped (3) Pay attention to diet. (4) In addition to being taken care of by Comrade Huang Shuze, director of the Health Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Wang Ligeng, director of the Department of Surgery at Beijing Hospital, was also sent to accompany him to the border of my country."
Director Chen was the first to see the expert advice put forward by Beijing Hospital. The Minister of Health personally delivered it to him. The Minister of Health's eyes were very heavy.
He said: "Director Chen, you are responsible for the Prime Minister's schedule. You must act in accordance with the recommendations of the expert group. There is nothing negotiable on this point. I believe you know the importance of this matter better than I do!"
Director Chen looked at the expert advice and calculated in his mind that the entire land trip would take about nine to ten days. This was unacceptable.
He understood that under the current circumstances, it was no longer feasible to arrange for Zhou Enlai and his delegation to arrive in Yangon, Myanmar, by land. He had to find other ways.
In the past few days, Director Chen's attention once again turned to the itinerary plan provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The land route was not feasible, so he had to find a way to travel by plane. After discussing with the "Ministry of Xiang" again, he drew up a new itinerary
plan.
The key points of this new plan are as follows:
First, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Air Force Command and the Civil Aviation Administration are required to cooperate and secretly contact the Myanmar government to open an international route from Kunming to Yangon as soon as possible.
Second, the Air Force Command came forward and secretly contacted the Indian Air Force to borrow a transport aircraft that could carry passengers. The requirements were that the aircraft should not be too big and should not attract attention, but should be safe and reliable.
The next day, Director Chen personally submitted the itinerary plan to Premier Zhou Enlai.
Premier Zhou saw the plan, looked up at him, and only asked, "Is this plan feasible?"
At this time, Director Chen could only tell the truth, "Prime Minister, we will try our best to achieve it." He paused and finally added, "Take the land route as a last resort."
Premier Zhou signed the report without asking any more questions.
To be honest, it is already early April. It is unimaginable to open new international routes in such a short period of time. It is also unimaginable to borrow aircraft from the Indian Air Force in such a short period of time. Therefore, at least until
So far, the Chinese delegation's overseas visits are still mainly by land.
At this time, another situation occurred.
On April 3, Zhou Enlai met with Mr. U La Mao, Ambassador of Myanmar to China, at the Xihua Hall of Zhongnanhai.
During this meeting, Ambassador U La Mao conveyed to Premier Zhou an important message from Prime Minister U Nu of the Myanmar government.
Ambassador Wu said: "Prime Minister U Nu very much hopes that Premier Zhou can arrive in Yangon two or three days before the 15th of this month. Because our country's Prime Minister U Nu, as well as India's Prime Minister Nehru, hope that during the Asian-African Conference
Before the meeting, we will discuss with you possible situations that may arise during the Asian-African Conference and our countermeasures. We believe that this meeting is very important."
Zhou Enlai understood that this Asian-African Conference was very important. It was the first time that the Chinese government appeared in front of the world. There is no doubt that Western countries are hostile to China and will definitely cause trouble during the conference. In addition, some countries that have no diplomatic relations with China
countries still have some prejudices against China. Therefore, it is extremely important to conduct such consultations before the Asian-African Conference.
However, considering his schedule, Premier Zhou could only reply with a smile: "Mr. Ambassador, I am very willing to meet with Prime Minister U Nu and Prime Minister Nehru to discuss issues that we are all concerned about."
