Double Agent Saga

The Bandung Conference, or the initial process of the "Kashmir Princess" case, roughly went like this.

On January 8226, [-], Indonesian Prime Minister Shastro Amizoyo sent a letter to Premier Zhou Enlai, representing the five sponsoring countries--Myanmar, Ceylon, India, Indonesia, and Pakistan, Invite the Chinese government to participate in the Asian-African Conference in Bandung in mid-April.

On February 8226, Premier Zhou Enlai received an official letter of invitation from the Indonesian government.On the same day, he replied to Indonesian Prime Minister Shastro Amizoyo, telling him that the Chinese government decided to participate in the Asian-African Conference.

On February [-], through the State Affairs Office, Director Chen requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide a reference plan for Premier Zhou Enlai's trip to Asia and Africa.He requested that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must also keep this program strictly confidential.

Many years later, on January [-], [-], the third batch of declassified files of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was released to the public.In this batch of files, there is a reference plan for Premier Zhou Enlai's trip to Bandung provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at that time.

There are two itinerary plans provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, excerpts are as follows:

1. There are two ways to fly to Bandung:

A: Charter an Indian plane from Kunming Wujiaba Airport to Singapore or Jakarta via Yangon.

B: Take a Chinese plane first and fly from Kunming to Mandalay, a city in northern Myanmar.Then fly to Singapore by Myanmar plane via Yangon.Finally, fly to Jakarta by plane from the UK, Indonesia or the Netherlands.

2. Take the Burma Highway:

The Yunnan-Myanmar Highway from Kunming to Lashio has a total length of 1157 kilometers and takes five days by car.After arriving in Lashio, take a Myanmar plane to Yangon or continue to fly to Singapore and then to Jakarta. It will take six to seven days in total.

Under the above itinerary plan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also specifically noted that the Yunnan-Burma Highway is 964 kilometers long in China, most of which are mountain roads.Cars (sleeping cars) can generally be driven, but it is not convenient to climb mountains in rainy days.Jeeps pass unimpeded.If you drive a sleeping car for seven hours a day at thirty kilometers per hour, you can arrive in five days.If the speed is slightly accelerated, it will take four days to arrive.There is no problem with the security of this section of the road.The Yunnan-Burma Highway is 193 kilometers long in Myanmar, and the road is flat and can be reached in one day.The Burmese authorities have strict defenses on the lines of communication.However, there are guns scattered among the people in the ethnic minority gathering areas where the road passes, and there may be activities of fugitive reactionaries from our country, which poses certain security risks.

Judging from the above itinerary plan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has never had the idea of ​​letting the Chinese delegation go to Bandung via Hong Kong on the "Princess of Kashmir".

Director Chen carefully studied the two options.The plan he finalized was a combination of the first plan A and B for flying.That is: take a Chinese plane, fly from Kunming Wujiaba Airport to Yangon, and then fly to Singapore.If possible, fly directly to Jakarta.

Director Chen secretly discussed this matter with Air Force Commander Liu Yalou.Liu Yalou immediately said that he would reply after going back to study carefully.

A few days later, Director Chen was disappointed by the reply from the Air Force Command.The answers mainly include the following points:

First, from Kunming to Yangon, my country has no international air routes.Air Force pilots have not flown this route, and have difficulty communicating with the ground in Myanmar.

Second, the best aircraft in the Air Force is the "Irasher" military transport aircraft produced by the Soviet Union.If it is used by our delegation, it needs to be refitted, which will take about one and a half months.It may be too late.

Third, the refueling problem of the "Irasher" transport aircraft is difficult to solve.Because Myanmar planes use Anglo-American aviation fuel. The "Irasher" transport aircraft uses Soviet aviation fuel.

The reply said at the end: Due to the above problems, the Air Force has certain difficulties in carrying out this flight mission.

Faced with this situation, Director Chen's face became serious, and he hesitated in his heart.Since the method of flying to Bandung via Yangon is not feasible, the only way left is to go by land.

From then on, the preparations for the Chinese delegation to Bandung to participate in the Asian-African Conference were discussed by the central government several times, but the itinerary was always to go to Yangon by land, and then to Jakarta by plane.

However, at this time, another problem occurred that Director Chen never thought of: Premier Zhou Enlai was sick and very serious.

On March 28, Zhou Enlai, who was working, suddenly felt severe pain in his abdomen.The staff around him immediately sent him to Beijing Hospital, where experts checked him out and diagnosed him with acute appendicitis.That night, Premier Zhou was sent to the operating room for surgery.After the operation, Premier Zhou has been resting in the Beijing Hospital until March [-] before he was discharged.

From the day Premier Zhou was hospitalized, Director Chen began to have a toothache, which was unbearable.Even "Xiang Bu", who has always been steady, became anxious.As soon as he entered Director Chen's office, he walked around the room frowning.This made Director Chen's toothache even worse.

"Xiangbu" said: "Old Chen, think again, is there any other way to go abroad?"

Director Chen covered his face and said: "Whether it is by air or land, Myanmar is the only passage. This was formed during the Anti-Japanese War! There is no other way."

Director Chen's statement shows that he has never considered leaving the country via Hong Kong.

"Xiang Bu" asked again: "Other ways, even a little detour!"

Director Chen couldn't help laughing, "Our only international route is from Beijing to Irkutsk in the Soviet Union. It's going to be a big detour! Let those foreigners hear about it, and they won't laugh their ass off! "

"Xiangbu" stopped talking.He actually knew this too.

Director Chen patted the table and said, "What does the Civil Aviation Administration do? How did it get here? There is only one international route! We should have dozens of international routes!"

"Ministry Xiang" smiled and said, "Only you have suggested this to the Prime Minister."

Director Chen shook his head.He knew that even if he made this suggestion, it would be a matter for the future, and it would not help the current situation at all.

Director Chen's other worry was that he had heard that some leaders of the central government suggested that Zhou Enlai cancel this trip to Bandung.If it is really cancelled, his "Star" project may also die.The only thing he can do now is to ask the Ministry of Health to tell him about Premier Zhou Enlai's condition once a day.

On March 28, Zhou Enlai was finally discharged from the hospital.Before being discharged from the hospital, experts from Beijing Hospital specially consulted on Zhou Enlai's condition.

The results of the expert consultation said: "The wound is recovering very well. However, I heard that the Prime Minister will go out to work in the near future and needs to take a long-distance bus. The experts recommend the following: ([-]) Take a rest for one hour after taking a bus for two or three hours. ([-]) The abdomen should be wrapped ([-]) Pay attention to diet. ([-]) In addition to being taken care of by Comrade Huang Shuze, director of the Health Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Wang Ligeng, director of surgery at Beijing Hospital, was also sent to the border of our country."

Director Chen was the first to see the expert advice put forward by Beijing Hospital.It was delivered to him by the Minister of Health himself.The health minister's eyes were very heavy.

He said: "Director Chen, you are in charge of the Prime Minister's itinerary. You must act according to the recommendations of the expert group. There is nothing negotiable about this. I believe you know the importance of this matter better than me!"

Director Chen looked at this expert suggestion, and he calculated silently in his heart. In this way, the entire land journey will take about nine to ten days.This is unacceptable.

He understood that under the current circumstances, it is no longer feasible to arrange for Zhou Enlai and the delegation to arrive in Yangon, Myanmar by land.He must find another way.

In the past few days, Director Chen's eyes once again turned to the itinerary plan provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.If land is not feasible, we can only find a way to travel by air.After discussing with "Xiangbu" again, he drew up a new itinerary plan.

The key points of this new scheme are as follows:

First, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Air Force Command and the Civil Aviation Administration are required to cooperate and secretly contact the Myanmar government to open an international route from Kunming to Yangon as soon as possible.

Second, the Air Force Command came forward and secretly contacted the Indian Air Force to borrow a passenger-carrying transport plane from them.The requirement is that the aircraft should not be too large to attract attention, but it must be safe and reliable.

The next day, Director Chen personally submitted the itinerary plan to Premier Zhou Enlai.

Premier Zhou looked at the plan, looked up at him, and only asked, "Is this plan feasible?"

At this time, Director Chen could only tell the truth, "Prime Minister, we will do our best to make it happen." He paused for a while, and finally added, "Take the land route as a last resort."

Premier Zhou signed the report without asking any more questions.

In fact, it is already early April.It is unimaginable to open up new international routes in such a short period of time.It is also unimaginable to borrow aircraft from the Indian Air Force in such a short period of time.Therefore, at least until now, the itinerary of the Chinese delegation's visit is still mainly by land.

At this time, another situation appeared.

On April [-], Zhou Enlai received Mr. U Lamao, the Myanmar ambassador to China, in the Xihua Hall of Zhongnanhai.

During this meeting, Ambassador U Lamao conveyed an important message from Prime Minister U Nu of the Myanmar government to Premier Zhou.

Ambassador Wu said: "Prime Minister U Nu very much hopes that Premier Zhou can arrive in Yangon two or three days before the [-]th of this month. Because our country's Prime Minister U Nu and Prime Minister Nehru of India hope to have Before the meeting, we will discuss with you the possible situation in the Asian-African Conference and our countermeasures. We believe that this meeting is very important."

Zhou Enlai understood that this Asian-African Conference is very important, and it is the first time that the Chinese government has appeared in front of the world.There is no doubt that Western countries are hostile to China and will definitely make trouble during the meeting.In addition, some countries that have no diplomatic relations with China still have some prejudices against China.Therefore, it is extremely important to conduct such consultations before the Asian-African Conference.

However, considering his itinerary, Premier Zhou could only reply with a smile: "Mr. Ambassador, I am very willing to meet with Prime Minister U Nu and Prime Minister Nehru to discuss issues that concern us all."