Author: Lu Miaogeng Source: "Diplomats Say Things"
About the Author
Lu Miaogeng, a native of Fengxian, Shanghai; He graduated from the Department of Chinese of Fudan University in 1964. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in August 1965 and successively served as Director and Counsellor of the Department of African Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After 1980, he was sent to Africa to engage in diplomatic work, successively serving as the director of the Research Office of the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia, the deputy director of the Chinese Research Center in South Africa, and the first Consul General of the People's Republic of China in Cape Town, where he studied Africa and engaged in diplomatic work with Africa for a long time, and experienced the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Africa. Based on his own experience, he has written dozens of articles for newspapers and magazines such as People's Daily, Foreign Affairs Review, International Studies, and West Asia and Africa, and has published many books.
Actively develop friendly relations between China and African countries
Premier Zhou spoke highly of the victory of the Algeria revolution, praising it as "a great event in the 60s after China and Cuba." As a marshal diplomat who once commanded millions of troops, swept away thousands of troops, and made outstanding achievements in war, Chen Yi naturally had a special affection for Algeria, which won national victories through armed struggle.
Soon after he became Foreign Minister, in December 1958 he warmly received the first official delegation sent to China by the Provisional Government of Algeria and sincerely expressed to the other side that "in the years to come, the Algeria people can always count on the resolute support of the 650 million Chinese people." He and Minister of Armaments and Supply of the Afghan Interim Government Sharif signed a joint communiqué on behalf of the two governments, designating 20 December as the day for the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and China became the first major country besides Arab countries to recognize the Afghan Interim Government. The Azerbaijani side expressed great satisfaction with the reception given by the Chinese side.
When Chen Yi went to the airport to see him off, he also told the Argentine delegation: "The hearts of the Chinese people will always be closely linked to your hearts. ”
Vice Premier Chen Yi has set foot in Africa four times, and each time he has visited Algeria, actively strengthening Sino-Arab friendship. Most prominently, in November 1964, Chen Yi led a party and government delegation to visit Algeria to attend the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the armed uprising in Algeria and to have extensive contacts with the Afghan people. He laid a wreath at the tomb of the martyrs and paid deep tribute to the revolutionary martyrs who died in Afghanistan.
Vice Premier Chen Yi held two talks with President Ben · of Afghanistan, during which the two sides extensively exchanged views on the international situation and Sino-Arab friendly relations at that time. Chen Yi spoke highly of the victory of the Algerian revolution on various occasions and praised the armed uprising on November 1, 1954, which created a new era in Algeria's history and opened up the road to a historic victory for the Algeria people. The Algeria revolution provided a shining example for the oppressed peoples and nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Guinea established diplomatic relations with China on October 4, 1959, and was the first country in the Black African region to establish diplomatic relations with the mainland. The first generation of mainland leaders meticulously cultivated the friendship between China and Guinea. On September 10, 1960, President Touré led a huge government delegation to China, becoming the first African head of state to visit China in history, which was of special significance in the history of China-Africa relations.
On September 12, 1960, Chairman Mao hosted a banquet to entertain Guinean President Touré.
On the evening of September 12, Chairman Mao Zedong met with President Durr in Zhongnanhai and hosted a banquet, accompanied by Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping, and Chen Yi. Obviously, this is an extremely unconventional courtesy for a visit by a foreign head of state.
Mali is located in the interior of West Africa, which was oppressed and plundered by the imperial colonists, and was very poor and backward. After independence, Maldives became friendly with China, and the mainland provided Maldives with aid in building a number of light industry and agricultural projects that were closely related to the people's livelihood. During Premier Zhou's visit to 10 African countries, he held in-depth talks with Malian President Keita on many occasions, and the eight principles of the mainland's foreign aid were written into the joint communiqué of the two countries for the first time.
Vice Premier Chen Yi participated in the formulation of the eight principles throughout the process and had a deep understanding of the spirit and essence of the eight principles. He explained these policies meaningfully to his comrades at home: "Imperialist aid is to cultivate your dependence on him. Give you some opium to smoke, and you won't be able to get rid of me if you're addicted. China's assistance is unique, because we have been victimized by this kind of assistance, and we can understand others and help them embark on the path of self-reliance. ”
For example, he said, China has helped Mali build rice mills, tanneries, cigarette factories and so on. Malian people love tea, and in the past they used to import from China every year, but now China sends experts to help Malians grow and roast their own tea, preferring to lose their own tea export market.
Vice Premier Chen Yi has made strengthening China-Maldives friendly and cooperative relations one of the priorities of his work toward Africa. In September 1965, he visited Algeria, Mali and Guinea, the longest of which lasted more than a week.
Mali is famous for its desert stoves, and the heat waves are so hot that you feel like you're taking a sauna all day. Vice Premier Chen Yi has carried out continuous external activities despite the hot weather. Not only in the capital, but also in other places to inspect the mainland-aided construction projects. He held many meetings and talks with the Malian president, ministers, and party leaders, focusing on exchanging views on economic development. In response to Mali's economic difficulties, Vice Premier Chen Yi proposed eight measures to solve the problem in accordance with the principle of self-reliance:
1
Savings in administrative costs;
2
Industrial projects are back in line, and non-productive construction is avoided as much as possible;
3
saving foreign exchange expenses;
4
severe punishment of corruption, theft and speculation;
5
strengthening national defense forces, blocking national borders and stopping smuggling;
6
Proper arrangements for the payment of external debts and interest;
7
expanding aid to Africa;
8
The central authorities have designated competent cadres to manage the economy.
Regarding Mali's requests to increase investment projects, expand trade volume, help re-export some of Mali's materials that need foreign exchange imports, and continue to provide foreign exchange loans, Vice Premier Chen Yi expressed positive consideration and promised that the mainland could re-export oil imported by Romania and other countries to Mali.
The Malian Government was very satisfied with Chen Yi's speech and, in accordance with the spirit of the speech, formed four subcommittees on trade, traffic, and transportation to study measures to overcome difficulties. The Malian government has launched a number of new measures to focus on agricultural production and save foreign exchange expenditures.
In January 1964, Premier Zhou Enlai and Vice Premier Chen Yi visited Mali to see a family's new home in a residential center in Bamako.
In his public speech, Vice Premier Chen Yi warmly appraised the efforts made by the Malian people to consolidate national independence and develop the economy, and believed that Asian and African countries will be able to overcome all kinds of difficulties on the way forward and build their countries well by adhering to the principle of self-reliance, taking the economic lifeline into their own hands, giving full play to the initiative and enthusiasm of the people, developing natural resources, and strengthening mutual assistance and cooperation with friendly countries.
The visits of Premier Zhou and Vice Premier Chen Yi have greatly promoted the development of China-Malaysia relations. President Keita visited China twice in September and November 1964. There is an endless stream of visits to China by senior Malian officials. Vice Premier Chen Yi gave a detailed introduction to China's experience in governing the country.
In August 1967, Kouyat, a ministerial-level representative of the Malian Presidency and economic secretary of the ruling Sudanese Coalition Party, led a government delegation to China. Vice Premier Chen Yi held eight meetings with the delegation and Kouyat, including four separate talks with Kouyat. China and Malaysia also held a number of professional talks.
Vice Premier Chen Yi listened in detail to Kouyate's briefing on the domestic situation in Mali, and expressed the Chinese Government's resolute support for the Malian Government's stand and hoped that the Malian Government would take the initiative to tighten fiscal expenditures, build the country through diligence and thrift, and take the road of self-reliance. The Malian government should rely on the broad masses and young people, unite the broad masses of peasants and herdsmen, and win the support of the masses.
Vice Premier Chen Yi's frank and sincere remarks touched the Malian delegation very much. China has long encouraged the Malian people to follow the path of safeguarding national independence and developing the economy, and has done its best to help and support them. Because the first generation of mainland leaders has made great efforts to lay a solid foundation for the relations between the two countries, several generations of Malian leaders have persistently implemented the policy of friendship with China and have become an example of Sino-African friendship.
The finale poem of Acura Africa
Chairman Mao Zedong praised Chen Yi's poems very much, saying that his poems are bold and unrestrained, "some places are like me". Premier Zhou greatly admired Chen Yi's poems on international themes, and once introduced some of his masterpieces to foreign leaders and friends in order to enhance friendship between China and foreign countries. At that time, Chen Yi accompanied Premier Zhou on his trip to ten African countries, knowing that this was a godsend opportunity to stimulate poetry and write poetry, he asked his secretary to prepare brushes, ink cartridges and rice paper, and also brought two of his favorite books - poetry books by Li Bai and Xin Qiji.
Chen Yi came to the land of Africa for the first time, and it really touched the scene, and the poems flourished and swayed freely, producing one masterpiece after another, which became another golden season for Chen Yi to write poems.
Nearly half of the poems on international themes included in "Selected Poems of Chen Yi" came from the chanting of this trip to Africa. He sang and sang to his heart's content with surging passion, profound philosophical thinking, far-reaching artistic conception, magnificent momentum, and free words on the ancient history of African civilization, the heroic struggle of the African people against imperialism and colonialism, and the warmth and friendship of the African people toward the Chinese people. These masterpieces have become the finale of the Chinese poetry circle to praise Africa, and also show the demeanor of poets and diplomats.
Manuscript of Chen Yi's poems
As soon as Vice Premier Chen Yi set foot on the land of Africa, he faced the pyramid miracle created by mankind 5,000 years ago, and enthusiastically sang its praise, which was linked to the revolutionary glory of the people of Asia, Africa and Latin America today, giving people great confidence and inspiration.
In January 1964, Premier Zhou Enlai and Vice Premier Chen Yi took a photo in front of the Sphinx in Egypt when they visited 14 countries in Asia and Africa.
The poem "Praise the Pyramid" is written in a large pen like a rafter:
Towers are towering for dozens of fathoms,
Eight million ashlar masonry.
Art has been hanging for thousands of years,
Majestic ancient civilization.
Pyramids, He Weiwei!
I sigh at the ancient wisdom of the extreme,
I sing the glory of the modern revolution.
Ancient times could not stop the completion of the pyramids,
Latin America, Asia and Africa, which are delusional in their attempts to block revolutions, are now closed.
The poems are sonorous, ancient and modern, creating brilliance, bold and inspiring. During his visit to Africa, Premier Zhou warmly praised Africa as a continent of awakening and fighting, and that it presented a very good revolutionary situation. Vice Premier Chen Yi was extremely excited and reflected it with poetry. Take a look at the vigorous new African boom that his poem "Africa" shows us:
What is the situation in Africa?
People everywhere celebrated.
The first awakening of the desert snow-capped mountains,
The two seas of the ocean are full of spring waves.
Colonial New Day Seeks Transformation,
The tribal essence is sinking.
The favorite struggle is finally won,
Don't forget to be wary of Hogango.
Black Africa is turning red today,
The colonization of the land has declined.
Ivory gold is returned to the owner,
The white eagle kingfisher has a forest return.
Dressed like a snowy man,
Wonderful dance like a flower girl brown fei.
Hill is new and proud,
Jingyuan trillion Qingchunhui.
After reading it, it is pleasing to the eye and elated, as if in the world of spring returning to the earth, birds singing and flowers, and almost dancing with the African people who have just stood up, sharing joy and victory.
During his visit to West African countries, Chen Yi witnessed countless eerie castles of slave detention remaining on the beach, which is irrefutable evidence of the four-century-long slave trade carried out by Western colonialists at that time. Marx wrote in Capital: "The discovery of gold and silver in the Americas, the extermination, enslavement, and burial of the indigenous populations, the beginning of the conquest and plundering of the East India, and the transformation of Africa into a commercial black hunting ground......
At that time, the Native Americans were killed in large numbers, and Western colonialists brutally plundered and sold black slaves from Africa in order to develop the American continent. According to the estimates of the prominent United States black scholar Du Bois, about 15 million African slaves were shipped to the Americas in the four centuries from the 16th to the 19th centuries. He also believed that for every black man brought to the Americas, at least five people were lost in Africa. A 1978 UNESCO study estimated that Africa suffered a population loss of about 200 million between the 16th and 19th centuries.
Marshal Chen Yi has always been jealous and hateful, and when he saw these historical sites of the tragic black slave trafficking, his heart welled up with anger, which is really the so-called "anger out of poets". Vice Premier Chen Yi's poem "The Red River · Gold Coast" came out. Let's look at the whole word of God's pen:
It's all gold, and this coast is full of skyscrapers.
Let the plunder, the ocean wind and rain, the god cry Devil Cry.
More than 100 million slaves were traded,
and taught the red people on the other side of the river to absolute.
The cruelty of the world is so shocking, and the blood of two continents is so great.
Speaking of forgiveness, who agrees?
When it comes to retribution, it doesn't have to.
The most ruthless is just the logic of struggle.
Since the independence of Northwest Africa,
Unveiled and raised one after another.
Look at the cleansing flaws and dirt again, all invincible.
This poem is grandiose, majestic, spanning centuries, connecting Africa and America, with words concise and dignified, infectious, shocking heart, can be described as a broad and profound, high-pitched and agitated word in the famous article.
Premier Zhou particularly liked this magnificent masterpiece, and especially praised "Blood of Two Continents", which highly summarized the inhumane crimes of the colonialists in persecuting black slaves and brutally killing the Native Americans in those years. Premier Zhou warmly introduced the poem to a leader of an Asian country, explained the profound meaning of the phrase "blood of two continents" in the poem, and hoped that the Asian people would deeply sympathize with the great suffering suffered by the African people and further strengthen the great significance of Asian-African unity.
In January 1964, Premier Zhou Enlai and Vice Premier Chen Yi had a cordial conversation with the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces Aboud (first from left) during their visit to Sudan.
During his visit to Sudan, Vice Premier Chen Yi was deeply moved by the deeds of the Sudanese People's Rebel Army's bloody struggle to drive out the United Kingdom invaders, and was particularly moved by the order of General Gordon, the leader of the United Kingdom colonial army, to Khartoum.
It was this Gordon who participated in the command of the British and French forces in 1860 to burn the Old Summer Palace, sack the city of Beijing, and later led the foreign guns to suppress the Taiping rebellion. After returning to United Kingdom, he was sent to Sudan as governor-general, and continued to act as a prestige and oppress the Sudanese people. In January 1885, the Sudanese people marched into Khartoum. The rebels pierced Gordon's chest with a spear in front of the Governor's Palace, avenging the Sudanese people and paying the blood debt for the Chinese. This executioner, whose hands were stained with the blood of the people of Asia and Africa, finally got the punishment he deserved, which is really gratifying!
Mahdi forces swept through the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, killing Gordon in front of the Governor's Palace.
Marshal Chen Yi, who has always been known for his enthusiasm and firmness, was naturally overjoyed and extremely excited about the above-mentioned historical events, and could not help but cheer for the victory of the Asian and African peoples. When Marshal Chen Yi climbed the tower in Khartoum to look at the bright moon, he reminisced about the past and the present, was overjoyed and emotional, and rose up with poetry and enthusiasm, that is, he took up a poem with the above content, which wrote:
The palace of the Republic on the upper floor,
Gordon was stationed at the festival.
The general went east to plunder,
and was shot and killed in the meantime.
The vicissitudes of life are like this,
Can a wicked man not perish?
Unintended to achieve the friendship of China and Sudan,
For decades, Ren Yan said.
He poured out his admiration for the heroic Sudanese people, severely lashed out at the atrocities of the colonial aggressors, and expressed the precious friendship between the Chinese and African peoples.
Source: "Foreign Affairs of the Republic" (published in August 2011)
Author: Lu Miaogeng
Editor: "The Diplomat Says Things" Fanfan