For the rescued hostages, the word "China" is the protector.
In the past, the vast majority of Chinese living in peace could only understand the appearance of the war-torn country from newspapers, news and television, but in the process of rescuing 8 Chinese citizens, countless people empathized with the whole process.
Perhaps, many people understand what a country will be destroyed when war comes, and only countries that have experienced war will truly desire peace.
In order to rescue these 8 hostages, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can be described as "fighting for their lives".
And the inside story of Chinese diplomats involved in danger and hostage rescue: shouting on the peninsula stage, circling in the mosque.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > sudden crisis, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded quickly</h1>
The road from Iraq to Jordan is also the "road to death" that is widely rumored by the outside world.
Mr. Lin and several of his companions plan to travel from Iraq to Jordan for opportunities, and if they are flying, the one-way ticket has exceeded $650.
This road is too luxurious for several people who go abroad to work.
In desperation, they finally chose this "road of death", a group of several people, rented an American jeep, the rent only needed 200 US dollars, which is much cheaper than the air ticket.
It was a bet, though, and they lost the bet.
The relatives in their hometown got their news again, and they had already seen their abduction on TV.
They arrived in Iraq through illegal channels, and each of them had their own grievances, either to pay off their loans or to provide school for their children, and they insisted that they could find a better job than their hometown when they went to Iraq.
Because the reconstruction of Iraq will become the largest project in the history of the "Second World War", the cost may exceed 800 billion US dollars, the time is 5 to 10 years.
They opened a trading house selling daily necessities, but over time, they found that there were many things that were not useful at all, and the business houses soon became unavailable, which was one of the reasons that eventually forced them to go to Jordan.
There is a Chinese businessman named Chen Xianzhong, who has always chosen to stay in Iraq, and for more than two decades, he has learned a lot about the local area.
According to his recollection, Lin Qiang's party did not know Arabic, and the visa forms they had in their hands at that time were filled out by themselves, and the 8 people only got their visas on January 10.
On January 18, in a video from Al Jazeera, Lin Qiang and seven Pingtan fellows appeared on the screen at the same time, and they were pointed at the head at a gun, and the situation was extremely critical, which had never been seen in Iraq's past history.
On the same day, when the Department of Asian and African Affairs of the Chinese Foreign Ministry was holding a Spring Festival gala, a staff member hurried to bring sad news: an Iraqi armed group had kidnapped eight Chinese and demanded that the Chinese government clarify their purpose of traveling to Iraq within 48 hours, or they would tear up the tickets.
Because China's attitude toward the outside world has always been relatively friendly, and there will be no disputes of interest outside the country, this armed group can raise this matter to the national level, presumably encountering other problems.
The initial conjecture was that the armed groups and hostages did not speak the language, and there were communication barriers, which led to misunderstandings.
Even if the misunderstanding is clarified, the group may not release people so quickly, in the past few years, more than 180 hostages in more than 20 countries have been kidnapped by various Iraqi armed groups, more than thirty of which have been brutally killed, and it is not very clear which faction this gang is, leaving little time for the embassy.
The first step they thought of was to resolve the matter through the power of the local religion.
All the embassy staff in Iraq quickly entered a state of tension, and diplomats also acted quickly, including staff member Meng Rui was sent to the home of a prominent local religious figure, hoping that he could use his influence to help find the whereabouts of the hostages, and called on the relevant organizations to release the hostages as soon as possible.
Experts on international relations also analyzed that the sudden abduction of Chinese by militants is likely aimed at creating panic before the upcoming Iraqi election, not to target Chinese.
This incident quickly attracted the attention of the vast number of ordinary people in China, who also tried their best to appeal, hoping that Iraq could find a way to release the hostages.
Jiang Xu, who had just returned to China for four months after completing the task of resuming the Chinese Embassy in Iraq, received a call from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and asked only one question: Is your passport still valid?
Jiang Xu immediately understood his mission, and he immediately joined the three-person working group headed by Zhai Jun, then director of the Department of Asian and African Affairs, and inspected the route, and the first step was to rush to Iraq as soon as possible.
The three of them unanimously stated that even with their lives, they would exchange the hostages for back.
The problem arises again, now only one video can be seen, true or false, and the situation in Iraq is complex, with frequent hostage-taking incidents posing as other organizations.
If you fall into it at this time, what should you do?
Zhai Jun's performance was very firm, he said: "Whether it is true or not, we must go once, and our task is to ensure the safety of the lives of these hostages." ”
After the hostage incident, there were already extensive contacts between the local upper-class religious figures and the very influential "Al Jazeera" in the Middle East.
At 0:00, 5:00, and 13:00 on January 19, Zhai Jun was interviewed and connected by the TV station three times, and through the TV station, he showed that several of the hostages taken were ordinary Chinese citizens without any other political implications, and called on the hijackers to release the hostages as quickly as possible.
On the 20th, the local Eid al-Adha, many religious leaders will be going to Mecca, and in order to be able to contact them, Chinese diplomats will drive to Mecca to search for important people among more than two million pilgrims.
On 21 January, the trio flew via Frankfurt to Amman, jordan, where planes from Amman to Baghdad departed only once a day.
Previously, everyone knew very little about the armed groups that carried out the kidnappings, and there was no channel to contact them, in order to gain some good feelings about me and avoid them from doing extreme things, in the previous shouts, Zhai Jun even used the Arabic word "brother", hoping to start a dialogue with the hijackers through the media.
Obviously, the location of the 8 hostages could not be determined at all, the relevant organizations did not appear, and the 48-hour agreed time had passed, but it had reached the situation where there was no news.
Just when everyone was at a loss, the hijackers released a third videotape that said that because they saw the sincerity of the Chinese government, they decided to release the hostages and did not harm them.
The working group met quickly with the embassy personnel in Baghdad, conducted research and identification of various pieces of information, and found a piece of information that appeared to be of relative value, although there was no way to prove its authenticity, but with a rough time and place of surrender.
After careful consideration and consideration, the members of the working group decided to break through, for the sake of their compatriots and the world to prove that China would not abandon any of its citizens.
Eight compatriots were finally rescued, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief
The rescue team was quickly set up, with Zhai Jun and Ambassador Yang Honglin as the main leaders, each of whom brought an assistant and 4 armed police fighters.
Before leaving, many staff members advised Zhai Jun not to go in person, and everything about that location was unknown.
But Zhai Jun rejected this proposal, he believed that what the other party needed was sincerity, and it was sincerity in his past.
In order to prevent sudden danger, armed police officers and men carried light machine guns with them, but all communications in Iraq have been completely under the control of the US military, which means that if mobile phone communication is used, then the US military will inevitably know the news in advance.
Therefore, everyone turned off their mobile phones.
That location is the famous "Sunni Triangle".
This is a high-risk area for being kidnapped, and the road leading to here is also the "Road of Death", and it is precisely because these messages can match Chen Xianzhong's memories before that everyone regards this news as more reliable news and puts it into action.
Everyone wore body armor and helmets in case of emergencies, but when they arrived at a local mosque, according to the Iraqis who provided the clues, according to local custom, body armor, shoes and socks needed to be removed, and even weapons could not be brought in.
Zhai Jun and the others did not think much about it, and did as required, which was actually very dangerous.
Everyone stood barefoot on the cold marble floor, and after waiting for more than 20 minutes, a religious leader here came forward, and Zhai Jun and Yang Honglin immediately stepped forward to talk to each other.
The two briefed each other on China's policy toward Iraq, which has always been relatively friendly, and also expressed the friendly feelings of the Chinese people toward the Iraqi people.
Of the 8 kidnapped citizens, Zhai Jun explained:
"The 8 of them were just looking for a living, had nothing to do with everything political, never did anything for the Americans, and they weren't enemies of Iraq."
After the conversation box was opened, the conversation between the two sides became more and more speculative, and after chatting for more than an hour, three people appeared, and they were the people who had kidnapped Chinese citizens.
Zhai Jun took the initiative to move forward, gave them a greeting ceremony, and once again introduced China's position on the Iraq issue.
In order to explain the contradiction clearly, Zhai Jun said:
"All 8 of them are ordinary Chinese farmers, who chose to come to Iraq to seek development after the failure of their hometown business, they do not understand foreign languages, let alone politics, which may also cause Iraqi friends to misunderstand."
The other side also fully felt the sincerity of the Chinese government, so they smiled and relaxed their vigilance.
As the mosque maneuvered, several groups of Iraqi soldiers came outside, patrolling the neighborhood.
The armed police soldiers standing guard behind them also maintained a relaxed posture, and since the weapons were already on the car, they were not too vigilant about these Chinese armed policemen, but only spying on whether the Chinese representatives were in contact with the outside world.
After the group fully trusted the Chinese staff, they took 8 Chinese citizens to the mosque, all of whom were physically and mentally exhausted.
When the 8 compatriots met the Chinese diplomat, they knew they were saved and could not cry.
Zhai Jun said: "At that moment, we deeply realized our glorious mission. ”
Jiang Xu and his colleagues arranged several people, quickly escorted them back to China, and let them return to their hometown in Fujian as quickly as possible, and also chose the most close route.
In one day, the 8 people can first arrive in Amman from Baghdad, then from Amman to Bahrain, fly from Bahrain to Hong Kong, and finally return to Fuzhou.
On this road, there were four ups and downs, when they walked out of Fuzhou Airport, the hanging hearts of the vast number of Chinese also let go, for them, when they finally set foot on the land of their hometown, they also really felt safe.
There is no more war around me, and after returning from Baghdad, I can truly feel how precious a peaceful life is.
Later, Zhai Jun also went to visit several rescued hostages, and they kept saying "I'm sorry."
The 39-year-old Lin Qiang did not have any restraints, and said in his mouth: "It feels so good to go home!" ”
A few days ago, the worries had been washed away by the family reunion, and they talked and laughed and talked with Director Zhai Jun.
For diplomats fighting on the front lines, only with a calm heart can they be in danger.
Jiang Xu said: "Looking back on the days and nights in Iraq in the past, the facts have proved that my choice to go to Iraq is correct, and that experience is indeed very memorable." ”
The word China is the most solid backing for everyone.