Origin#
I started reading this book from this morning until 12:26 in the evening. I read a total of 170 pages; I almost forgot how I came to know about this book, but the most important reason was that it mentioned the "Tiananmen Square incident" - I completely forgot about it when I bought it. I first saw this book on Kong Net, and it could be purchased for just over ten yuan - the one I have was bought for 11.90 yuan, and the condition is not as good as the one I originally wanted to buy - it was just sold out when I made up my mind to pay. I found the original image and posted it here.
I originally planned to buy it after the end of the final exam in the first year of high school, but I kept postponing it.
Probably the day before yesterday, I was browsing Kong Net in the hospital again. I always do this, even if there are some pebbles in my wallet, I still want to spend them all.
Originally, I wanted to buy books by Roman Roland and Andre Gide. I'm ready to read them.
- Andre Gide's "Returning from the Soviet Union"
- Roman Roland's "Moscow Diary"
The disintegration of the Soviet Union seemed to happen overnight, but many factors that led to its collapse had accumulated over a long period of time. Here, we must mention the observations of two famous French writers of the Soviet Union in the early 20th century.
In the 1930s, the famous French writers Roman Roland and Andre Gide were both greatly interested in this rising country and traveled to Moscow. They recorded their observations, doubts, and thoughts about the Soviet Union in the form of diaries.
Gide named his diary "Returning from the Soviet Union" and published it openly in 1937, candidly expressing his realistic observations and long-term thoughts about the Soviet Union. On the other hand, Roman Roland, famous for his novel "John Christopher," announced: "Without my special permission, this diary cannot be published until 50 years after October 1, 1935." This move caused a lot of speculation and added a layer of mystery to his travel diary to the Soviet Union.
Now, we can take a look at their observations and thoughts at that time. Roman Roland, on the one hand, expressed his "main impressions and feelings from this trip" as "an incredibly powerful wave of vitality and youthful vigor," and "they are working for a more beautiful, better, and brilliant future for all mankind." On the other hand, he believed that there was "inhumane formation of a lower class" in that place, and he had to admit all this, and could only feel regret and try to correct and eradicate it. Gide wrote: "For the vast majority of workers, the daily wage is 5 rubles or less; while for some privileged people, they enjoy more benefits." His conclusion was that a nobility had emerged in the Soviet Union.
Both Roland and Gide constantly contrasted the tall commemorative buildings, spacious villas, and narrow, simple, and crowded housing of ordinary people in their diaries.
Gide made in-depth observations of the Soviet Union's market in his diary. He described it as follows: "The department store hadn't even opened yet, but there were already two or three hundred people queuing up. That day, they were selling mattresses, maybe only four or five hundred, but there were 800 to over 1,000 customers. Before it got dark, everything was sold out. The demand was so high, and there were so many customers that even after a long time, everything would still be in short supply."
Roman Roland expressed concern about the mental state of the Soviet people: "I am convinced that they sometimes even underestimate the vitality of other nations. Even if the governments and systems of capitalism are their enemies, we cannot underestimate their resilience. Soviet workers firmly believe that they possess and have personally created everything that is best, while the rest of the world has lost these good things (schools, health facilities, etc.). I am truly worried that one day such a thing will suddenly happen and cause turmoil." Gide apparently shared the same sentiment. He wrote: "The Soviet people are astonishingly ignorant of the situation abroad. Not only that, they are also deeply convinced that everything in foreign countries is far inferior to the Soviet Union." He said that a young man once said to him, "A few years ago, Germany and the United States could still benefit us in some aspects. But now, we have no need to learn from foreigners..."
Russian scholar Albats described the Soviet Union in the 1970s as follows: Economists have realized that the economic development of the Soviet Union has always been on the path of extensive development, and now the factors of extensive growth have been exhausted. Therefore, it is necessary to shift to intensive development, and it is necessary to shift from relying on administrative orders to using economic leverage to regulate the economy. Attention must be paid to the new scientific and technological revolution that has already begun, and so on. When these issues were raised at the Soviet Communist Party Congress, they were only discussed. In fact, everything remained the same and had no results.
In the late 1980s, as Chernenko, the former assistant to the Soviet president, said, there began to be doubts about Soviet society. When Gorbachev talked about "loyalty to socialist values" and "pure October Revolution ideology," "we ourselves couldn't understand what kind of society we were in."
This is the complete excerpt from pages 221 to 223 of the book.
Actually, I was thinking, is this similar to our Chinese society?
This is Qian Qichen's evaluation of Lee Teng-hui in the "Lafayette Frigate Scandal"; many of us, like Qian Qichen, always believe that time can dispel the fog of history. However, the current situation seems to be even more difficult to determine and trace the truth. This incident is one of them, and there are many other events as well.
Selling "Phantom" Again#
The French government at the time clearly underestimated China's principled position and tolerance limit, and instead of stopping, they continued to push forward.
On January 31, 1992, French Foreign Minister Dumas met with me at the United Nations Security Council and once again mentioned that France was considering selling advanced "Phantom 2000" fighter jets to Taiwan. This was less than half a year since French Foreign Minister Dumas met with Deputy Foreign Minister Tian Zengpei on July 4, 1991, and made relevant commitments, and since the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on August 27, 1991. The words were still fresh, and the ink was not dry, but the French government broke its promise and wanted to repeat the same trick.
The "Phantom 2000" fighter jet is not an ordinary weapon, but an offensive weapon with high combat effectiveness. When France was selling warships to Taiwan, they argued that the frigates were defensive weapons and that France would not sell offensive fighter jets to Taiwan. Now, they want to sell "Phantom" fighter jets to Taiwan, abandoning their previous excuses.
In order to prevent France from selling "Phantom" fighter jets to Taiwan, China immediately took a series of measures. First, we made solemn representations to the French side, pointing out the seriousness of this issue and stating that China would never tolerate it. At the same time, we actively responded to the so-called "serious trade imbalance between France and China" raised by the French side. China sent an economic and trade delegation to visit France, clearly stating that if France abandoned the sale of "Phantom" fighter jets to Taiwan, China would send a purchasing delegation to France to sign a batch of cooperation projects and purchase $2 billion worth of French products in cash. The delegation also provided a list of potential projects for cooperation with France, including 8 categories and 50 projects, with a total amount of $15.4 billion.
In the face of China's representations, the French government remained unmoved, disregarding China's efforts to stabilize and develop Sino-French relations, and insisted on selling fighter jets to Taiwan.
On November 18, 1992, Agence France-Presse quoted Taiwanese sources as saying that France and Taiwan had signed a contract on the same day for the sale of 60 "Phantom 2000" fighter jets to Taiwan. However, for diplomatic reasons, neither side officially announced this.
It was not until December 22 that the French side officially responded to our Ambassador to France: the French government had decided to approve the sale of 60 "Phantom 2000-5" defense fighter jets to Taiwan, and at the same time, they stated that the French side had imposed necessary technical restrictions on the aircraft. The aircraft is of a defensive nature, without air refueling equipment, without air-to-ground missiles, and will not pose a threat to China's territorial integrity and security.
The French side also argued that this contract was a general commercial activity. France opposes any discrimination in any market. If the United States can sell weapons to Taiwan, why can't France? France has a huge trade deficit with China. The French aerospace industry is in a difficult situation and needs to find a way out.
At that time, the French Socialist government was facing domestic elections and had nothing to show, so they broke their promise and tried to gain immediate benefits by selling nearly $4 billion worth of contracts for 60 "Phantom 2000-5" fighter jets as their "achievements" in governance. At that time, there were still many people in the decision-making level of the French government who viewed China's approach of considering the overall situation of Sino-French relations in the sale of warships to Taiwan as weak and vulnerable, thinking that China would swallow the bitter pill of France selling fighter jets to Taiwan.
This is the complete content of "The Ninth Record" from the beginning (p300) to the end of p301, and I transcribed it word for word; I was thinking that the Chinese government is willing to provide projects with a total amount of $15.4 billion. However, the contract for the sale of 60 "Phantom 2000-5" fighter jets to Taiwan is only worth nearly $4 billion as their "achievements" in governance.
So why did the French still take such a step that would seriously set back the bilateral relationship to earn "blood money"?
The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence
How shameless of him to say such words!
Finally finished reading this book, I'll post the "Afterword" here!
Afterword#
"Ten Diplomatic Records" took five months to complete and finally came out.
From the 1980s to the beginning of the 21st century, the international situation was unpredictable, and diplomatic struggles were complex. During this period, four wars also broke out. "Ten Diplomatic Records" is just a description of my personal experiences and observations from a few perspectives. When I put down my pen and pondered, I felt that the rapid changes and sudden events in human society are sometimes like earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions in nature, seemingly unpredictable and uncontrollable even by humans themselves.
At the time of the book's completion, I would like to thank the leaders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Li Zhaoxing, Dai Bingguo, and Wang Yi, for their encouragement and concern, as well as the support of the departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Many comrades assisted in searching for information, verifying the accuracy, and providing help.
Yang Chengxu, Huang Shejiao, Zhang Tingyan, Zhao Jihua, Liu Xinsheng, Fu Quanzhang, the six senior ambassadors, and Zhan Yongxin, He Xiangdong, Guo Xianggan, Song Ronghua, Li Xing, and other young talents participated in the writing. Without their participation, it would have been difficult to complete this book in a short period of time.
Finally, I would like to thank my beloved wife Zhou Hanqiong and my son Qian Ning. They were the earliest readers of the manuscript and provided many helpful suggestions.
Beidaihe
I want to quote a sentence from the reference,
When I put down my pen and pondered, I felt that the rapid changes and sudden events in human society are sometimes like earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions in nature, seemingly unpredictable and uncontrollable even by humans themselves.
Reading it still moves me deeply.