From this day on, the diplomatic war over the "Kashmir Princess" plane bombing began around the world. World public opinion also fluctuated.
On the afternoon of April 12, Xinhua News Agency issued the "Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China". The statement is as follows:
"A total of 11 staff members of the government delegation of the People's Republic of China, staff members of the delegation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and accompanying Chinese and foreign journalists who went to cover the Asia-Africa Conference news took a flight chartered by the Chinese delegation on an Indian Airlines flight
A Constellation passenger plane took off from Hong Kong at 12:12 on April 11th, Beijing time, headed for Jakarta and transferred to Bandung. The plane exploded and caught fire while flying over the sea northwest of Sarawak, North Borneo, and the fuselage
It crashed into the sea and the whereabouts of all people on board are unknown.
"This unfortunate incident is by no means an ordinary plane crash, but a murder deliberately caused by the United States and Chiang Kai-shek's secret services. Long before the departure of this group of delegation members and journalists, the government of the People's Republic of China had already learned that the United States and Chiang Kai-shek's secret service
The secret service is actively arranging to sabotage the Indian plane that our delegation will board on board, in order to realize their plot to assassinate the members of our delegation headed by Premier Zhou Enlai to participate in the Asian-African Conference and to sabotage the Asian-African Conference.
"Therefore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China notified the British Agency in Beijing of this situation at 9:30 on April 10, requesting the British Agency to inform the British authorities in Hong Kong and take measures to protect the personnel of the above-mentioned delegation.
and the safety of journalists. After officials from the British agency inquired about the airline company of the passenger plane these personnel were planning to board, they agreed to notify the British authorities in Hong Kong by telegram.
"Despite this, the conspiracy of the U.S. and Chiang Kai-shek secret services still succeeded. The British government and the British authorities in Hong Kong bear serious responsibility for this unfortunate incident. We request the British government and the British authorities in Hong Kong to conduct a thorough investigation of this incident and will participate in this incident.
A secret agent who conspired to assassinate the incident was arrested and brought to justice to clarify his responsibility."
Careful readers, please read this statement carefully. The statement first makes a judgment in the second natural paragraph above. After simplifying this paragraph, it reads as follows: "The Chinese government has learned of the assassination plot of the American and Chiang Kai-shek agents." But in the second natural paragraph, the statement reads as follows:
In the third paragraph, this "judgment" is vaguely described as "this situation", and the British agency has been notified. But everyone knows that Zhang Yue, deputy director of the European and African Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, informed the British
However, what the Counselor of the Agency said was "obstruction and trouble" and there was no such thing as an "assassination conspiracy".
This statement made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the statement was immediately noticed by Premier Zhou Enlai. He immediately asked Wang Zhuoru to call Dong Yueqian to find out as soon as possible the record of Deputy Director Zhang Yue's meeting with Ai Si, and then pass it on to him.
Soon, Dong Yueqian called back. The content of his answer was even more serious than Premier Zhou expected! He answered two points:
1. Zhang Yue, Deputy Director-General of the Department of European and African Affairs, made an emergency meeting with the Counselor of the British Embassy in China at 9:30 am on April 10, and informed the Chinese journalists and a group of 11 people that they would fly from Hong Kong tomorrow morning (the 11th).
We flew to Bandung to cover the Asian-African Conference. We learned that the Kuomintang agents would obstruct and cause trouble, so we asked them to inform the Hong Kong authorities and ensure that their safety is taken care of. After asking about the situation of my delegation, Ai Si said
, he will telegraph this situation to Hong Kong as soon as possible.
2. On April 12, before the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' statement was issued, Ai Si handed Zhang Yue a memorandum. The memo said: Upon receiving the telegram from William To (Charge d'Affaires), the Governor of Hong Kong immediately arranged for the police to take appropriate preventive measures. The aircraft
After landing in Hong Kong, the police had been guarding it and did not see any unauthorized persons entering or approaching the aircraft, and there was no sign of any attempt to cause difficulty.
Premier Zhou was surprised to discover that the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 12th did not truthfully express the conversation between Zhang Yue and Ai Si on the morning of the 10th. And Zhang Yue's conversation was also related to the long-distance call from Kunming on the evening of the 9th.
The emergency instructions conveyed by Premier Zhou Enlai are inconsistent!
But this memorandum written by Itis seemed simple, but it was the first to attack and immediately took the initiative!
Premier Zhou's face changed completely when he looked at this phone record. Everyone could see that he felt very sad.
He said sadly to Wang Zhuoru beside him: "This is my responsibility! I did not check the conversation record between Zhang Yue and Ai Si in time. Yesterday, I did not understand the content of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' statement in advance. This is a serious mistake on my part!"
"
Zhou Enlai was magnanimous and had already taken full responsibility for this mistake.
These two consecutive mistakes by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs put the then Chinese government into a passive position.
As I write this, I can't help but post a few comments. China's diplomacy has been weak since ancient times, and there has been no major change. This sentence has been said before. They have a bad theory of weakness,
The so-called "weak countries have no diplomacy" serves as a fig leaf for them to be weak and can be bullied. Look around China today. There are so many small and weak countries, and how many of them take China seriously! This is the result! Weak countries
Is there really no diplomacy?
The saying "a weak country has no diplomacy" means betrayal of the country! Even, it means betrayal of the country!
"Takeaway Department", "Takeaway Department", let people tell you what you are good at!
Faced with the statement of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on April 12, the United States, Britain and Taiwan immediately launched a counterattack.
On April 12, a US government spokesman accused our Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China's statement of being "ridiculous," "without the slightest basis," and "having a strong propaganda motive."
On the same day, U.S. Senator Mansfield said: "If this incident involves sabotage, it probably comes from within the Communist Party of China, possibly from separatists within the Chinese Communist Party."
On the same day, the New York Herald Tribune published an editorial saying: "It is not impossible for the Chinese Communist Party to sabotage this plane in order to arouse sentiments in Asian and African countries against the United States and Britain at the Asian-African Conference."
Also on this day, Taiwanese officials also expressed their opinions on the "Kashmir Princess" plane bombing. They said: "The plane was definitely not sabotaged" and "the CCP's cry of 'sabotage' was too fast, almost before the plane landed.
He shouted 'sabotage' in front of the sea." He also said: "The plane was sabotaged by the Chinese Communist Party to incite anti-Americanism and lay the foundation for the 'liberation of Hong Kong.'"
Faced with this situation, Premier Zhou Enlai, who still lives in Kunming, was deeply saddened, but he had to muster all his energy to deal with it.
Under the instructions of Premier Zhou Enlai, at 6 o'clock in the morning on April 13, the Executive Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs summoned William Du, the British Charge d'Affaires in China, and read out and handed over a note in person.
William Du immediately protested against what was said in the meeting: "The British government and the Hong Kong authorities bear unshirkable responsibility for this unfortunate incident." He claimed that the cause of the plane crash had not yet been determined and the results of the investigation should be awaited.
He also said that when Zhang Yue notified Iris on April 10, he only mentioned that someone might cause trouble, but did not say that someone was trying to carry out sabotage. However, the Hong Kong authorities still took adequate preventive measures. He asked China to provide information on what it has
detailed evidence.
At this time, the executive deputy minister could only follow Premier Zhou's instructions and work hard to turn the "Kashmir Princess" incident into case investigation.
He said: "We cannot accept the British protest, and our accusations are well-founded. The Hong Kong authorities know that there are American and Chiang Kai-shek agents operating at the airport, and sufficient evidence can be found from there. The British and Hong Kong governments must first be determined
.If you are determined to investigate, the case will not be difficult to figure out."
On the afternoon of April 13, Counselor of the British Agency, Mr. Etis, sent the statement issued by Hong Kong Governor Grantham to the press at 1:15 pm that day to Zhang Yue, Deputy Director-General of the Department of European and African Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China.
The statement said: "The Hong Kong government received a telegram from the British Agency last weekend saying that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had received intelligence that Chinese Kuomintang sympathizers might target a group of people who were about to leave Hong Kong on Air India to fly to the Bandung Conference.
Journalists are causing trouble and the Hong Kong government is requested to take appropriate preventive measures."
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was once again passive.
On April 17, the British Agency sent a "memorandum" to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a reply to the note sent by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the British Agency on April 13.
The memorandum stated that the British government did not accept any responsibility for the "Kashmir Princess" accident. It made a strong protest against the Chinese government for complaining to the British authorities before giving time to conduct any investigation. The memorandum stated that on April 10
, the Deputy Director-General of the Department of Western Europe and Africa of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the British Counselor that the Kuomintang elements may cause trouble to a group of Chinese journalists before leaving Hong Kong the next day for the Bandung Conference, and requested that appropriate preventive measures be taken. This notice was not issued in the
Any detailed description does not mean to undermine it. The British counselor asked about the number of this group of people, their place of residence, the name of the relevant airline and their departure route. At that time, the deputy director could not answer any of the questions raised.
Instead, I was notified by phone later.
The British side tried its best to seize on the negligence of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on April 10 and escape its own responsibility.
From the sidelines, because of the negligence of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it has put itself in a very passive situation.
On April 19, "People's Daily" published Jiang Yuanchun's article "The British authorities must take responsibility", which refuted the memorandum submitted by the British government to our Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 17th.
The article said that the British government refused to assume serious responsibility for this unfortunate incident and asked our country to provide a detailed description of the circumstances in which the secret agents were going to carry out sabotage. In fact, it was impossible. This is exactly what the Hong Kong authorities have the responsibility to take accordingly.
of preventive measures.
The article said that the British memorandum showed that the Hong Kong authorities failed to take preventive measures for more than 24 hours after receiving the warning from the Chinese government on the 10th.
