Edit | Zhang Wei
On May 10, Xinhua News Agency released a message: outstanding Party members of the Communist Party of China, long-tested loyal Communist fighters, proletarian revolutionaries, outstanding leaders of China’s diplomatic front, the 14th CPC, comrade Qian Qichen, member of the Political Bureau of the Fifth Central Committee, former state councilor and former vice premier of the State Council, died in Beijing at 22:06 on May 9, 2017 at the age of 90.
Qian Qichen served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1988 to 1998. His diplomatic work left a deep impression on the political circle (WeChat ID:wepolitics). He witnessed history on many major events.
The leader of “no diary” started to write memoirs
Qian Qichen once said: “I follow the four words proposed by Premier Zhou Enlai for our diplomatic staff, 16 words, that is, to stand firm, master policies, study business, and strictly observe discipline.” His motto in his work is “thinking and scheming in decision-making, high speed and high efficiency in execution”.
Qian Qian did not smoke or drink. His biggest hobbies were reading and walking. Even if he encountered something very angry during the negotiation, he would not quarrel with others loudly. In 1988, when Qian Qichen became a foreign minister from the vice foreign minister, he once said, “there is a long way to go and dare not slack off”.
After retreating, Qian Qichen published “ten records of diplomacy” in 2003, which was a precedent at that time. It is reported that he became the first Chinese leader to publish memoirs of historical events after retirement. He once told Wang Chengjia, president of the book publisher world Affairs Press, that there are many versions of some things abroad. If the real things are not expressed, many years later, those unreal things become facts.
The original proposal of the publishing house was named “memoirs of Qian Qichen”, but it was rejected. Qian Qichen personally liked the two books “six notes of floating life” and “six notes of cadre school” very much, hoping that the books he wrote were also some at ordinary times, so it was named “ten records of diplomacy”. He also didn’t want to put his avatar on the cover of the book.
This book has been published for 14 years until today and has been very popular. Qian Qichen once wrote in his preface, “I never keep a diary. This is a habit formed by the work of the underground party for seven years when I was young, without leaving a piece of paper, everything depends on memory.”
He also said frankly, “some scenes experienced by himself are like close-ups in movies, which keep lingering in his mind.”
Witness from Soviet Union to Russia
Qian Qichen, who once served as foreign minister, naturally had countless experiences of going abroad. The first time Qian Qichen went abroad was to the Soviet Union.
It was August, 1954, when he was sent to study in the Soviet League school. Since 1951, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League has selected League cadres to study in China Central College for youth leagues of the Communist Party of Soviet Union for one year. Qian Qichen was 26 years old at that time and was a researcher of the General Office of the Communist Youth League. Her daughter was born only for more than 20 days.
At that time, a group of 21 people took off from Beijing by a small Soviet plane. On the way, they changed to a large plane and finally arrived at their destination. In his impression, it seemed to have just rained there.
There are three main courses in the league School: Party history, philosophy and political economics, while Qian Qichen is also working hard to learn Russian. In the summer of 1955, before the study was over, the organization informed him that he would stay in the embassy in the Soviet Union after graduation. Qian Qian was first assigned to work in the international student management office of the embassy. In 1960, he was transferred to the research office of the embassy and presided over the research work until he was transferred back to China in early 1962. Qian Qichen also witnessed the transformation of Sino-Soviet relations during his eight years in the Soviet Union.
Ten years later, in early 1972, Qian Qichen, who was working in Anhui Cadre School, was ordered to go to the Soviet Union to serve as an administrative counsellor in the embassy. In the summer of 1974, he was transferred from the Soviet Union to Africa.
During the collapse of the Soviet Union, Qian Qichen served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and also witnessed the turning point of history. On December 27, 1991, he called Russian Foreign Minister Kozyrev and officially informed him that the Chinese government decided to recognize the government of the Russian Federation and decided that Wang Yuqing, China’s former ambassador to the Soviet Union, would be changed to the ambassador to Russia. Here is another episode: Wang Yuqing, as the new ambassador to the Soviet Union, arrived in Moscow at the end of November 1991. At the beginning of December, Su Fang told him, gorbachev may accept ambassador Wang’s credentials between December 7-14. But before it could be submitted, the Soviet Union no longer existed. On December 24, Su Fang apologized for Wang Yuqing’s failure to to present one’s credentials in time and said he would arrange him to to present one’s credentials to Russian leaders as soon as possible, but at this time, the letter to the head of state of the Soviet Union brought by Wang Yuqing was no longer available, and the domestic immediately entrusted the messenger to bring the new letter. It was early February, 1992 when Wang Yuqing finally handed in the credentials to Yeltsin.
In November 1992, then Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen visited Russia and met Yeltsin in the Kremlin. He told Yeltsin that this visit was to make further preparations for Yeltsin’s visit to China. Yeltsin was always very interested and the conversation lasted for an hour. Qian Qichen was interviewed by reporters before returning to China. He said that the similarities and differences in ideology, social system, values, cultural traditions and other aspects should not become obstacles to the development of state relations.
Meeting with Saddam during the Gulf crisis
Before the Gulf War broke out, Qian Qichen went to New York to attend the 45th session of the United Nations from late September to early October 1990. During this period, the Chinese delegation borrowed a consultation room of less than 30 square meters from the countries of the non-aligned movement as a conference room, which became a central place for multilateral diplomatic consultation and dialogue. Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen met with foreign ministers or leaders of more than 60 countries in that small room, and the Gulf crisis was the main topic.
On October 15 of that year, the King of Jordan proposed that China would send a senior envoy to visit Iraq and the Gulf region. Oman and Palestine had also put forward similar suggestions before. Later, the central government decided that Qian Qichen would visit Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq as a special envoy in November 6-12 of that year.
Qian Qichen became the only foreign minister of the permanent member of the Security Council who visited Baghdad during the Gulf crisis.
At noon on November 11, 1990, Qian Qichen flew to Baghdad. Due to the sanctions, there was no plane at the Baghdad airport at that time. He saw a completely different scene six months ago. At about 11 o’clock on the morning of the 12th, Qian Qichen met Saddam. He was dressed in a uniform and had a gun on his waist. During the two-hour meeting, there was a short rest. Only then did Saddam take off the pistol and put it at the table.
Saddam said that Kuwait has been a part of Iraq since ancient times, just as Hong Kong is a part of China. He also said that the fundamental problem in the Middle East is the Palestinian issue. To deal with the Middle East issue, one standard should be adopted instead of double standards.
Qian Qichen seriously pointed out that the Hong Kong issue is completely different from the relationship between Iraq and science. Hong Kong has always been a Chinese territory, but it has been occupied by Britain for more than 100 years. Even so, China still negotiated with Britain peacefully and finally reached relevant agreements. However, the unique diplomatic relations between Iraq and Kuwait and the mutual establishment of embassies are all members of the United Nations. In any case, Iraq’s military occupation of Kuwait is unacceptable.
Saddam also asked Qian Qichen whether the United States really wanted to fight? Qian Qichen said that a big country has assembled hundreds of thousands of troops. If it fails to achieve its goal, it will not retreat without fighting.
During the conversation, Saddam did not express any intention to withdraw troops. However, the Iraqi foreign minister accompanying the meeting told Qian Qichen that Saddam’s statement this time was more flexible than ever before.
Later, at the UN Security Council ministerial meeting that voted on Resolution 678, although the US had been persuading China to vote in favor before, Qian Qichen abstained after making an explanatory speech.
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Editor | Zhang Wei on May 10, Xinhua News Agency released a message: outstanding members of the Communist Party of China, proven loyal Communist fighters, proletarian revolutionaries, outstanding leaders of China’s diplomatic front, the 14th and 10th CPC