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On April 24, dignitaries from asian and African countries attended the 60th anniversary of the Asian-African Conference (also known as the Bandung Conference) in Bandung, Indonesia. Chinese President Xi Jinping will join the leaders of Asian and African countries in a solemn "historic walk" of Asian and African leaders at wan solemn:
Sixty years ago, the host of the conference, then President Sukarno of Indonesia, said in his opening remarks: "The Bandung Conference is the first intercontinental meeting of people of color in the history of mankind and a new starting point in world history. "Enough to prove its significance.
For Chinese, the Bandung Conference 60 years ago was more than that. On that occasion, Premier Zhou Enlai was nearly assassinated; on that occasion, representatives of pro-Western countries attacked China fiercely, putting the meeting in danger of dying. If history had deviated from sixty years ago, China's diplomacy might have been a different version.
Dangerous route of assassination
In order to participate in the Bandung Conference, our country leased two aircraft from Air India, namely the Kashmir Princess and the Air Bully. According to the arrangement, the delegation traveled to Indonesia in batches.
Unexpectedly, on April 11, 1955, a shocking news came: the Kashmir Princess exploded over the Indonesian Natuna Islands, killing some members of the delegation and accompanying journalists. It turned out that the plane had been secretly placed with a time bomb when it stopped for refueling at Hong Kong's Kai Tak Airport.
The murder target of the Kashmir Princess incident was directed at The new Chinese leader, Premier Zhou Enlai, who, according to the original plan, would take the chartered plane to Jakarta. However, Zhou Enlai temporarily changed his route because he had just completed surgery.
Huang Hua, who accompanied Zhou Enlai, later recalled that in addition to his grief, Zhou Enlai told the members of the delegation that the enemy's sabotage precisely showed that they were afraid that we would convene the Asian-African Conference, but this kind of sabotage would not frighten us, and there would be sacrifices in engaging in diplomacy.
Zhou Enlai's three crises were skillfully resolved
Sixty years ago, only 6 of the 29 countries that participated in the Conference established diplomatic relations with us. Even on the first day of the congress, Foreign Secretary Jamali bluntly attacked communism as a "new form of colonialism" with the intention of provoking controversy. The atmosphere of the whole venue suddenly became tense.
Zhou Enlai then took advantage of the noon break on the 19th to personally write a supplementary speech:
"The Chinese delegation is here to seek unity, not to quarrel," and "the Chinese delegation is here to seek common ground rather than to make a difference." Zhou Enlai's loud words suddenly relaxed the atmosphere of the previously tense venue. Zhou Enlai also warmly invited everyone to visit China. As soon as the words fell out, the audience erupted into warm applause. Philippine Foreign Minister Romulo, who had been very tough before, also spoke highly of Zhou Enlai's speech as "outstanding, conciliatory, and a manifestation of the spirit of democracy." More importantly, the central idea of Zhou Enlai's speech, seeking common ground while reserving differences, became the backbone of the later "Bandung Spirit". Zhou Enlai also skillfully defused the first crisis.
Zhou Enlai then spoke that he and Kotravara had reached an understanding through private conversations, and although he could not agree with some of Kotlavara's views, he appreciated Kotravala's positive spirit. In this way, Zhou Enlai defused the obstacles set up by Kotravara and resolved the second crisis.
The third time was when neutral countries and pro-Western countries were arguing over the issue of neutrality and alliance, and when the neutral leader Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was extremely angry at being attacked by pro-Western countries, Zhou Enlai wasted no time in standing up, deftly avoiding controversy, reiterating the leading idea of seeking common ground while reserving differences, and saying that "peaceful coexistence" was changed to "peaceful coexistence" in the UN Charter, and 5 principles were changed to 7 principles. Zhou Enlai's conciliatory speech once again calmed the debate and defused the third crisis. At this point, the crisis of the Bandung Conference was basically lifted.
The spirit of Bandung is immortal
The 1955 Asian-African Conference is famous in history because it is a powerful demonstration that as long as the developing countries in Asia and Africa are united, they can also break through the situation in which international affairs have always been dominated by big countries and Western countries. For the participating countries of that year's conference, the Bandung conference has an extraordinary significance.
"When Chinese dragons, Indian sacred cows, Egyptian sphinxes, Burmese peacocks, Thai white elephants, Vietnamese hydra, Filipino tigers and Indonesian cattle dance together, colonialism will be completely shattered."
— Indonesia's founding president, Sukarno
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