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Chinese Diplomacy in the 1950s: A Study of Dag Hammarskjöld’s Visit to China
- 1 Nanjing Normal University
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
After the Korean Armistice Agreement in 1953, the direct war between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and United States was temporarily halted. But the subsequent issues relating to the prisons of war, China students studied at US and the collusion between US and Taiwan, made the tensions between the PRC and US government. In order to resolve the American spy case, the United States manipulated the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to pass a resolution which Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary-General of the United Nations(UNSG), was mandated to visit China to solve this issue. This incident offered the PRC government a rare opportunity to engage with the UN and participate in global affairs. Zhou Enlai, the Chinese Foreign Minister, successfully defended China’s sovereignty. This engagement helped to highlight the newly established PRC’s position in the international affairs during Cold War while alleviate the tense atmosphere between China and the United States. This event also provided crucial groundwork for the resolution of issues concerning Chinese-American immigrants.
Keywords
American spy case, Sino-American relations, United Nations
[1]. Since the English version of minutes of conversation is more detailed than the Chinese version, so this thesis is written mainly based on the English version of minutes preserved in the Wilson Center Digital Archive: "Record of Meetings between UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold and Zhou Enlai", January 6, 1955, Wilson Center Digital Archive, United Nations Archives and Records Management Section, Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold (1953-1961), Political -China - Secretary General's visit to Peking 15455 - basic documents - Korean Prisoners of War, S-0846-0002-04. Obtained by Ole Jakob Skatun. https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/122619
[2]. “The Military Tribunal of the Supreme People's Court of China Pronounces Judgments on Two Major American Spy Cases,” People's Daily, November 24, 1954, Page 1.
[3]. Memorandum Prepared in the Department of Defense for the Operations Coordinating Board，November 24, 1954, Foreign Relations of the United States（FRUS）,1952–1954, Vol.14, Part 1，Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1985, pp.956-957.
[4]. Extract from the Diary of James C. Hagerty, Press Secretary to the President，November 29，1954，FRUS，1952–1954，Vol.14，Part 1，pp.956-957.
[5]. Memorandum by the Director of the Policy Planning Staff (Bowie)，November 26，1954，FRUS，1952–1954，Vol.14，Part 1，p.951.
[6]. Resolution 906 of the United Nations General Assembly, December 10, 1954, https://www.un.org/zh/ga/9/res/. The resolution did not include Downey and Fecteau, as they did not belong to the United Nations forces Command but were directly under the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States.
[7]. Dag Hammarskjöld: “Cablegram dated 10 December 1954 addressed to the Prime Minister of the State Council and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China by the Secretary-General”, Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo dui wai guan xi wen jian ji. 3, [1954-1955] (1958), 221.
[8]. Zhong gong zhong yang wen xian yan jiu shi bian (1997): Zhou Enlai nian pu, 1949-1976(volume 1), 431; 438; 439; 438-439.
[9]. Li Bingkui: “The American Spy Case and the Crisis in Sino-US Relations from 1954 to 1955”, CPC History Studies, Issue 6, 2008, 68, cited in “Zhong mei guan xi zi liao hui bian. Di er ji. Xia”(1960), 2129.
[10]. The United States Representative at the United Nations (Lodge) to the Department of State，December 17，1954，FRUS，1952–1954，Vol.14，Part 1，p.1037.
[11]. The Acting Secretary of State to the Secretary of State, at Paris，December 17，1954，FRUS，1952–1954，Vol.14，Part 1，pp.1038-1039.
[12]. The Chargé in the United Kingdom (Butterworth) to the Department of State，December 20，1954，FRUS，1952–1954，Vol.14，Part 1，p.1044.
[13]. “Minutes of Conversation between Premier Zhou Enlai and Soviet Ambassador Pavel Yudin regarding Dag Hammarskjold’s Trip to Beijing”, January 4, 1955, Wilson Center Digital Archive, PRC FMA 111-00065-01, 4-6. Translated by Jeffrey Wang. https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/113183, p.1-2.
[14]. “Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai’s Cable to the United Nations Secretary-General on the US Manipulation of the United Nations Ninth Session to Adopt a Ridiculous Resolution on American Spies”, Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo dui wai guan xi wen jian ji. 3, [1954-1955] (1958) , 219.
[15]. Item S-0846-0002-04-00001 - Political - China - Secretary-General's visit to Peking 195455 - basic documents - Korean Prisoners of War，1953-10-25 - 1955-01-09 https://search.archives.un.org/political-china-secretary-generals-visit-to-peking-195455-basic-documents-korean-prisoners-of-war-2，2015-3-22, pp.41-127.
[16]. “Record of Meetings between UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold and Zhou Enlai”, January 6, 1955, Wilson Center Digital Archive, United Nations Archives and Records Management Section, Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold (1953-1961), Political -China – Secretary General’s visit to Peking 15455 – basic documents – Korean Prisoners of War, S-0846-0002-04. Obtained by Ole Jakob Skatun, https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/122619, p.3; p.13; p.16; p.21-27; p.33-34; p.38.
[17]. “Judgment of the Military Court of the Supreme People's Court of the People’s Republic of China on the American Spy Case of Crossing the Chinese Border by Taking an Airplane (No. 1 Military Trial Letter, 54)”, People's Daily, November 24, 1954, Page 3; This was concealed by the United States from the United Nations. On September 13, 1998, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Arnold crew did have connections with the CIA: Robert Burns, “Soldiers’ Cold War Ordeal Tied to CIA Link, Mysterious Leak” Los Angeles Times, September 13, 1998, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-sep-13-mn-22205-story.html.
[18]. Chinese students studying in the United States who were detained by the United States once wrote a letter to Hammarskjöld asking for assistance to return to China: “Chinese Students Studying in the United States Who Were Detained by the United States Wrote a Letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations Requesting the United Nations to Help Safeguard the Right of Chinese Students to Return to China”, People's Daily, December 24, 1954, p. 4.
[19]. “Zhou Enlai yu wai guo shou nao ji zheng yao hui tan lu” bian ji zu bian zhu: Zhou Enlai yu wai guo shou nao ji zheng yao hui tan lu (2012), 81.
[20]. “Joint Communique between the Prime Minister of the State Council and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China and the Secretary-General”, Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo dui wai guan xi wen jian ji. 3, [1954-1955] (1958), 225.
[21]. The United States Representative at the United Nations (Lodge) to the Department of State，December 30，1954，FRUS，1952–1954，Vol.14，Part 1，pp.1058-1059.
Cite this article
Yang,Y. (2023). Chinese Diplomacy in the 1950s: A Study of Dag Hammarskjöld’s Visit to China. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,9,396-403.
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