Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition
The picture shows Wang Weizhen (back row, right) taking a group photo with his family.
On December 18, 2014, the Brazilian federal government issued a communiqué announcing the revocation of the 1965 expulsion order issued by the Brazilian military regime against Wang Weizhen and nine other Chinese citizens. The communiqué unveiled a 50-year-old story.
In the early 1960s, there were only more than 30 countries in the world that established diplomatic relations with New China. In the entire Americas region, only Cuba has established diplomatic relations with New China. In August 1961, João Gurat, then Vice President of Brazil, led a delegation to visit China. Wang Weizhen, a veteran reporter who works in the International Department of the Xinhua News Agency, was ordered to cover Gurat's and his entourage's visit to China.
Wang Weizhen was born in March 1923 in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, to an overseas Chinese family, the son of Wang Yuting, a famous patriotic overseas Chinese in the Philippines. In November 1933, Wang Weizhen went to the Philippines with his father to study. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, in May 1938, my father sent Wang Weizhen, who was full of enthusiasm for resisting Japan and saving the country, to the office of the Eighth Route Army in Hong Kong. In May 1939, Wang Weizhen accompanied the Nanyang Overseas Chinese Driver Service Group and detoured back to the motherland through Vietnam and rushed to Yan'an. After arriving in Yan'an, he studied in the "Wartime Youth Training Class" and often drew various anti-war cartoons in his spare time. In October 1940, Wang Weizhen joined the Communist Party of China.
In August 1941, Wang Weizhen was assigned to the fine arts department of Jiefang Daily, and in November of the same year, because of his excellent English and writing skills, he was transferred to the English Translation Group and the Broadcasting Department of Xinhua News Agency, serving as a translator and editor, and became the first full-time international editor of Xinhua News Agency. Thus began his career in journalism, to which he devoted his life. From 1942 to 1944, in Yan'an, in addition to being a full-time editor of international news, Wang Weizhen also wrote long reviews such as "The Victory of the People of the Nanyang Colonies", "The History of The India-Netherlands Negotiations", and "The "Independence" of the Philippines". In the summer of 1946, in order to expose Chiang Kai-shek's plot to launch a civil war, Wang Weizhen wrote a "Letter to Overseas Chinese Compatriots", which was broadcast on the Xinhua Radio Station in Yan'an in Cantonese, Hokkien and Chinese. This is the first time that Xinhua Radio has broadcast to overseas Chinese.
After the founding of New China, Wang Weizhen continued to serve in the International Department of Xinhua News Agency. After receiving the task of interviewing Gurat and his party, Wang Weizhen seized the favorable opportunity and soon made friends with the 3 core figures in the Gurat think tank. Two years later, under a cooperation agreement between the Chinese government and the Brazilian government, Wang Weizhen and a colleague came to Brazil and became the first batch of Xinhua news agencies to send to Brazil. They also arrived at the same time as seven staff members of the China Council for the Promotion of Trade who went to Brazil to carry out economic and trade exchanges. Thanks to their active efforts, Brazil and China are getting closer and closer, and the establishment of formal diplomatic relations is just around the corner.
Unexpectedly, on March 31, 1964, Brazilian right-wing soldiers staged a sudden coup d'état that overthrew Joao Gurat, who had already been elected president. Wang Weizhen and nine others were arrested on April 3, 1964, after smearing him as Gurat's "political adviser" who tried to promote communism in Brazil, was engaged in "espionage" and "sedition." This is the famous "Brazil Incident" (also known as the "China Nine Case") in the history of China-Pakistan diplomacy.
Wang Weizhen and 9 others went on hunger strike in prison and made generous statements in court, showing the courage and dignity of Chinese. In October of the same year, a Brazilian military court sentenced Wang Weizhen and nine others to 10 years in prison each for "subversion." Nine people immediately issued a statement stating that this was political persecution. The Chinese government also strongly protested against this and received the support of more than 1,000 well-known people in the political, legal and press circles of 87 countries. In the end, the Brazilian coup authorities announced the "expulsion" of Wang Weizhen and nine others. This was hailed as a major victory in the diplomatic history of New China. 49 years later, brazil's federal government announced the revocation of the expulsion order against Wang Weizhen and nine others, marking the end of this once-shocking event with Pakistan admitting its mistake.
(Contributed by Cheng Xi, Author of Overseas Chinese History Museum of China)
People's Daily Overseas Edition ( 2022-01-28 Issue 06)