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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, September 21, 2002

An Indian Old Man Who Has Seen Three-Generation Chinese Leaders

Bai Chunhui is an old Indian with a Chinese name. Over the past half century, this septuagenarian who had served as secretary in charge of East Asian affairs in the Indian Foreign Ministry, had successively spent 11 years on studying and working in the Chinese mainland and paid five visits to China.


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Bai Chunhui is an old Indian with a Chinese name. Over the past half century, this septuagenarian who had served as secretary in charge of East Asian affairs in the Indian Foreign Ministry, had successively spent 11 years on studying and working in the Chinese mainland and paid five visits to China. In a sunny afternoon in New Delhi when he reviewed his experience of getting along with Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and other Chinese leaders, the meager-faced Bai Chunhui seemed to have return to the enthusiastic years full of changes in China as his thoughts went through the prolonged tunnel of time.

At the beginning of the Chinese people's gigantic Liberation War, young Bai Chun-hui came to China for the first time in 1947 to major in the Chinese language at Yanjing University (present-day Peking University). In February 1949, Beiping, an ancient city, at last welcomed in its new life. Like many of his Chinese schoolmates, Bai spontaneously joined in the processions welcoming the Liberation Army. The scene of the peaceful liberation of Beiping was still fresh in his mind as he recalled it. "In their hearts, all people were eagerly expecting that the Liberation Army could enter the city earlier. As I think it carefully at present, he said, the birth of New China and the victory of the Communist Party indeed represent the aspirations of the people." As he mentioned this, Bai's deep eyes were radiating excitement.

Bai Chun-hui returned home after completing his study in China in early 1950. At that time, India which had just established diplomatic relations with China was in desperate need of people well versed in the Chinese language, so he was quickly enrolled into the Indian Foreign Ministry, in his first appearance, he took upon himself the task of doing interpretation in the meeting held between the then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the first Chinese Ambassador Shen Jian to India, his fluent Chinese speaking helped him cut a striking figure in the diplomatic circle of India. That same year Bai was sent to the Indian Embassy in Beijing where he continued his indissoluble bond of friendship with China till he was relieved of his office and returned home in 1958. During the eight years of work in China, he personally witnessed the brand-new atmosphere wherein the Chinese people, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and beaming with vigor and vitality, were serving as masters of their destiny and constructing their own homeland, "tremendous changes really took place in those years", he said with feeling.

During Premier Zhou's tour to India and Prime Minister Nehru's China visit in 1954, Bai Chun-hui undertook the work of interpretation in a series of high-level talks between leaders of the two countries. In the repeated contacts with the first-generation Chinese leaders, the firm and decisive Mao Zedong, the open-minded and resourceful Zhou Enlai and the steady and farsighted Liu Shaoqi all left a profound impression on him. "The first-generation Chinese leaders had all tempered themselves in the long-term, harsh environment and so their abilities were extraordinary. Without them, Chinese revolution would have, without doubt, continued groping for a very long time," said Bai Chun-hui with emotion.

In the nearly 20 years thereafter, Bai had not been able to return to Beijing due to well-known reasons behind Sino-Indian relations, he could only continue to follow the country's developments in China's Hong Kong. In 1979 when Atal Behari Vajapee, then Indian Foreign Minister and now Prime Minister, was visiting China, the Indian Foreign Ministry immediately recalled Bai Chun-hui, then ambassador to the Republic of Korea (ROK), to Beijing to participate in the talks between Vajapee and Deng Xiaoping. He recalled that in Deng's first remark given at the talks, this Chinese leader went straight to the question, saying that the two countries should make a package arrangement to properly solve the boundary and other questions left over from history. Regarding this, he kept lavishing praises that "Xiaoping is a man with plenty of guts". Although he was in a hurry to go, from Deng Xiaoping's remarks, however, Bai Chun-hui who was very familiar with the history and status quo of China, faintly felt that China which had experienced the calamity of the cultural revolution was fermenting a completely new change. Between 1995 and 1998, Bai Chun-hui again paid two visits to China on invitation. In the face of the row upon row of high-rises and heavy traffic on the street as well as the spirited passersby, this "Sinologist" was deeply marveled at the tremendous changes taken place in China over the past 10 years and more. He said with great feeling, "If China achieved the first liberation under the leadership of Mao Zedong, then it was Deng Xiaoping that let China welcome in the second liberation."

In December 1996, Bai Chun-hui saw in New Delhi the visiting President Jiang Zemin, the third-generation Chinese leader he contacted for the first time. He said, compared with the first two-generation Chinese leaders, President Jiang displayed to the world people the new face of the new generation Chinese leader. Although he had retired long before, Bai Chun-hui never for a moment forgets about following the development of the current political situation, he remarked that in the speech given in celebration of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Party, President Jiang put forward a series of propositions concerning the necessity for the CPC to fully represent the interests of the broadest section of the people, which reflect the pragmatic workstyle of the third-generation Chinese leaders as embodied in their courage to go with the tide of history and daring to engage in reform. Today, Bai Chun-hui who has repeatedly said with emotion, "There are no bounds to one's learning knowledge", often asked people to bring back from China some books on Chinese culture and biographies of the newest figures, in his own words, "only this can help one get a better understanding of China".

That is Bai Chun-hui, an Indian among the few, who has seen the three-generation Chinese leaders, and a foreign old man who has a bond of deep friendship for China.



By People's Daily Online


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