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On July 8, 1971, then-U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger visited Pakistan.
The US president's visit was a major event, and the whole country of Pakistan warmly received Kissinger, and reporters from all walks of life rushed to hear the news, but on such an important occasion, Kissinger suddenly felt a pain in his abdomen during the dinner.
Everyone rushed Kissinger to the hospital, but they didn't know that there were other secrets hidden behind this incident.
Is Kissinger's abdominal pain real or false? Why did a dignified US secretary of state have such an "accident" at a dinner party?
Click on it to uncover the secret behind Kissinger's abdominal pain.
Visit Pakistan
Around the 70s of the last century, relations between the United States and Pakistan were still good, and the two countries also had contacts with each other.
In July 1971, Kissinger planned a trip to Pakistan to strengthen friendly relations between the two countries.
As one of the only two powerful countries in the world at that time, Kissinger's every move was under the attention of the media of various countries, and the United States announced his trip to the outside world as early as a month ago.
On the day of Kissinger's arrival, reporters of all sizes were present, and the Pakistani side also prepared a grand welcoming ceremony.
In order to show respect for Kissinger, the Pakistani government specially arranged a grand banquet.
At the dinner, Kissinger was completely like a "star holding the moon", everyone invited him to raise a glass and drink, and the atmosphere of the banquet was quickly pushed to a climax.
However, in the middle of the banquet, when the officials from all walks of life were staggering, Kissinger suddenly felt a sharp pain in his abdomen.
Seeing this, everyone gathered around and asked about Kissinger's condition with concern. Seeing this, the president of Pakistan quickly stopped the banquet and ordered someone to call for medical personnel.
Soon, paramedics arrived at the scene and conducted a preliminary examination of Kissinger. They had previously made a preliminary determination of Kissinger's condition, but the exact cause needed further investigation. As a result, the medical staff recommended that Kissinger be immediately taken to the hospital for detailed examination and treatment.
Since the medical staff said this, everyone must not delay Kissinger's treatment, so the Pakistani president hurriedly ordered someone to carry Kissinger into the car, but in view of Kissinger's special status and security needs, he decided to arrange Kissinger to his own villa for treatment.
There is nothing wrong with this arrangement, and the Pakistani president's response is also decent, but some reporters still smell something unusual from it.
Kissinger has a very tight schedule during this time, he is in this country today, and he may fly to that country tomorrow, and the continuous visits are indeed very physically exhausting, and it is understandable that he is sick because of fatigue along the way, but this time it is not so simple.
The reporters who sensed that something was wrong, even when they saw Kissinger being put in the car, were still not at ease and did not want to miss any news points.
After Kissinger was put on the bus, he did not set off immediately, but waited for a while, and the rest of the staff also got on the bus one after another, and only after everyone formed a convoy did they set off with great fanfare.
In short, Kissinger's visit to Pakistan was very large, and even in the event of an emergency such as being unwell and sent to the hospital, he did not give up his "pomp."
As the convoy left, the reporters hurriedly drove to follow, for fear of missing something, and the reporters saw Kissinger's motorcade drive into the villa of the Pakistani president, and they were not qualified to enter the villa, so they left.
In fact, what the reporters didn't know was that Kissinger was no longer in the convoy, and he was in another car, which was secretly driving in the other direction.
Just as the eyes of the banquet crowd, including the reporters present, were drawn to the motorcade, Kissinger was already on a Boeing plane and set out on a journey to China.
The Boeing plane Kissinger was on was large enough to accommodate 100 people, but when he entered the plane, there were only four Chinese in the cabin.
The four Chinese are Zhang Wenjin, translator Tang Wensheng, deputy director of the protocol department Wang Hairong, and deputy director of the reception department of the protocol department Tang Longbin.
They are all elites of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, and a day earlier, they had flown to Pakistan on a special plane in a confidential reception.
This operation must be kept strictly secret. Otherwise, it will cause an international uproar, and if it is not good, it will lead to Kissinger being targeted by domestic political parties after returning to China.
This is a major and risky task for China, which involved a delicate and tense relationship at this sensitive time in the '70s.
Kissinger's visit to China
At 3 a.m., a Boeing 707 was parked in a remote corner of a Pakistani airport.
The windows were closed, only the ramp was lowered from the front door, and no one was seen coming out of the plane, and the Boeing plane in the dark looked like it was keeping a huge secret.
The four Chinese diplomats on the plane were waiting for Kissinger's arrival for an important meeting with him.
After waiting for about half an hour, two black cars slowly drove into the airport, and six figures stepped out of the cars, namely Kissinger, his three assistants, and two agents in charge of security.
Kissinger deliberately left reporters aside on this trip and only brought his own cronies, and after the two sides met on the plane, they first shook hands and greeted each other, and then briefly introduced themselves.
According to Tang Longbin's recollections, Kissinger had a serious face at that time, and we had no choice but to "keep a straight face," and the spies brought by Kissinger were holding a file box in their hands, and they also specially put chains on the file box, locking one end to the file box and the other end to their own hands, for fear that someone would rob them of their secrets.
Tang Longbin teased afterwards: "It's not easy to rob him, unless you cut off his hands." ”
Kissinger's secret visit to China is a major diplomatic breakthrough between the United States and China, and is also an important step before the normalization of relations between the two countries, which is a very good signal for China.
From here, it can be seen that Kissinger's so-called "abdominal pain" is just a pretense, and his real purpose is to hide people's eyes and ears, hold secret talks with Chinese, and not leak a little news, let alone let the outside world notice the problem.
In order to cover up his actions, Kissinger deliberately pretended to have abdominal pain and left the dinner scene on the pretext that he could successfully complete the mission of this secret visit to China without alarming the outside world.
Although the atmosphere of Kissinger's first meeting with mainland personnel was a little awkward, he still maintained a friendly attitude toward China, and when several people were speechless, it was Kissinger who took the lead in breaking the silence.
Tang Wensheng, the interpreter who accompanied her at that time, was a Chinese born in the United States, and her father returned to China with the whole country during the period of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, and when she grew up, she was admitted to Beijing University of Foreign Affairs and Chinese, and became an important translator of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with her excellent English ability.
Kissinger chose to greet the female translator first, and jokingly said that she could run for president of the United States, which made Tang Wensheng a little surprised, but he didn't expect Kissinger to get to know her before meeting with them.
Tang Wensheng was born in the United States, according to American law, she can have American citizenship and be able to run for president of the United States, and at the same time Kissinger "complained" to Tang Wensheng that he could not run for president because he was born in Germany.
The conversation box opened, the atmosphere instantly became much more relaxed, and Kissinger had a heated discussion with these four Chinese.
They covered a wide range of topics, from the international situation to the relations between the two countries, from economic cooperation to cultural exchanges. With his unique insight and diplomatic skills, Kissinger put forward many valuable suggestions for the development of Sino-US relations.
But having said that, Kissinger is the US secretary of state, and even if he wants to get along with China, can he still use it to pretend to be sick and use the "golden cicada to shed his shell"? Do you want the Pakistani president to cooperate in such a big battle just to go to China?
In fact, Kissinger's trip is closely related to Nixon, and to be more precise, Kissinger's trip is to make a trip for Nixon first.
Since Nixon was elected president of the United States in 1969, the situation at home has been bleak, with his political opponents critical of his policies and growing economic problems at home.
At the same time, the international situation is also undergoing tremendous changes, the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union is at its most intense, the United States needs to seek more external forces, and China is a good target.
In particular, the deterioration of Sino-Soviet relations made the United States see the possibility of establishing diplomatic relations with China. Nixon believed that establishing diplomatic relations with China would not only improve the international standing of the United States, but also bring benefits to the American economy.
However, diplomatic relations between the United States and China have been at an impasse for historical and political reasons.
In fact, Nixon had this idea after he came to power, but because he had no chance, and the United States was generally not optimistic about this matter, he faced a lot of main forces.
Two years later, Nixon's presidency was firmly established, and he was able to suppress domestic opposition, which led to the determination to take this step.
U.S.-China relations
Nixon decided to take the initiative and break the deadlock. He sent Kissinger as a special envoy to make a secret visit to China to explore the possibility of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries.
In fact, we also have the idea of breaking the ice with the United States, since the breakdown of Sino-Soviet relations, the mainland has been under the oppression of the two world powers, and it is also walking on thin ice in international exchanges, and we also hope to seek a feasible diplomatic path.
Prior to this, when Nixon was interviewed by Time magazine, he took the opportunity to express his hope that he would go to China once in his lifetime, and they sent us a message through the President of Pakistan, and the mainland naturally actively welcomed their arrival.
With both sides expressing friendly attitudes, Nixon decided to send Kissinger to visit first.
Kissinger's task was daunting, and he needed to hold in-depth talks with the Chinese leaders and convey Nixon's wishes without attracting outside attention.
In order to accomplish this task, Kissinger carefully planned the entire itinerary. He chose Pakistan as a transit point, using the cooperation of the President of Pakistan to create the illusion of "abdominal pain" to hide his true purpose.
At noon on July 9, after several hours of flying, Kissinger's plane landed at Beijing's Nanyuan Airport.
China attaches great importance to this visit, and in addition to sending Ye Jianying to meet the plane, Premier Zhou is also preparing to meet with him in his busy schedule.
After arriving at the Beijing airport, Kissinger had a brief greeting with the reception staff, and then got into the Hongqi car we had prepared for him, and the car drove slowly to the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.
At around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Premier Zhou also came to meet with Kissinger in person. Although Kissinger's itinerary was very well arranged, and even a little tight, this was a great test for Kissinger's physical energy.
However, this did not stop Kissinger from fulfilling his mission. He held in-depth talks with the leaders of China and reached a consensus on the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. This meeting laid a solid foundation for the subsequent establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States.
While Kissinger stayed in Beijing for only 48 hours, Zhou Enlai held six talks with him for a total of 17 hours, which covered the issue of China's Taiwan and, of course, a series of arrangements for Nixon's visit to China.
The two sides agreed on Nixon's visit to China the following spring, but there was some controversy over who would invite whom, and neither wanted to appear too positive.
In the end, Chairman Mao made the decision, adopting "learning of President Nixon's strong desire to visit the People's Republic of China" and Zhou Enlai issued a "formal invitation", which Nixon "gladly accepted", so that both sides took care of their faces.
Overall, Kissinger's secret visit to China is an important step ahead of the normalization of relations between the United States and China. Through a well-planned itinerary and ingenious strategies, he successfully completed the mission and made an important contribution to the improvement and development of relations between the two countries.
When the plane left China, Kissinger's visit to China came to an end. The major event after that was Nixon's visit to China, and relations between the two countries gradually normalized and became an important force on the international stage.
Kissinger's secret visit to China not only demonstrated his diplomatic wisdom and courage, but also opened a new chapter in the development of Sino-US relations.
Although decades have passed since this history, it still has important implications. In today's world, countries are increasingly interdependent and interconnected, and common development and prosperity can only be achieved through dialogue and cooperation.
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