English.news.cn, Ma Yujie, 2015-04-21
SINGAPORE, April 21 (Xinhua) -- "Zhou Enlai was the center of the Bandung Conference," said 91-year-old Lee Khoon Choy, who met Zhou in 1955 during the first Asian-African Conference (also known as Bandung Conference), in an exclusive interview with Xinhua here.
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"Zhou
Enlai was center of Bandung Conference," Singapore ex-diplomat
recalls the
grand event
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SINGAPORE, April 21 (Xinhua) -- "Zhou Enlai was the center of the Bandung Conference," said 91-year-old Lee Khoon Choy, who met Zhou in 1955 during the first Asian-African Conference (also known as Bandung Conference), in an exclusive interview with Xinhua here.
Lee, born
in 1924 in Penang, Malaysia, joined the People's Action Party in 1959 in
Singapore and was elected into the Legislative Assembly at the same year. By
the time he retired from public service in 1988, he had held various positions
in the government, including as a Member of Parliament and senior minister of
state, and served as Singapore's ambassador and high commissioner to eight
countries.
However,
back in 1955, when Lee first met Zhou, the then premier of the People's
Republic of China, he was a reporter at the Chinese newspaper Nanyang Siang
Pau. He was in Indonesia to cover the Bandung Conference, a gathering of
leaders and representatives from 29 Asian and African countries, most of them
newly independent, to promote economic and cultural cooperation and to oppose
colonialism.
The
conference adopted a final communique containing ten principles, which
underlined respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations and
recognition of the equality of all races and the equality of all nations.
Even though
more than half a century has passed, Lee can still remember many details. He
recalled that Zhou and his "strong" Chinese delegation including Chen
Yi, the then foreign minister, were the center of attraction as soon as they
arrived.
"They
received a warm welcome from overseas Chinese. They gave the delegation a very
warm applause and some even set off firecrackers to celebrate."
Every time
Lee talks about Zhou, he made a thumbs-up gesture to show his respect.
"Zhou
Enlai came to the conference with a prepared speech. After listening to the
speeches against China, I saw him leading the Chinese delegation in a walk back
to their hotel room. There was a big crowd clapping hands when the delegation
walked out of and back into the Merdeka Building in Bandung," Lee said.
"When Zhou returned to the conference table, he threw away his prepared
speech and spoke off the cuff."
"That
came to be the historical moment of China's diplomacy," Lee said.
Zhou said
he had come to the conference to seek peace and not enemies. He said China was
willing to negotiate with America for peace.
"Zhou's
speech totally changed the atmosphere of the whole conference. He became the
very center of the stage, with everyone' s attention on him."
For then
31-year-old Lee, this was not the only impressive moment with Zhou.
"I
have always remembered one sentence from Zhou - overseas Chinese like you
should take part in politics," Lee recalled.
"Many
people at that time were hesitant to step into politics, but after the Bandung
Conference, a lot changed their minds," Lee said.
For Lee
himself, Zhou's words had also more or less changed his life. Lee didn't make
up his mind to join politics after the Bandung Conference, but was finally
persuaded by then Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in 1959, an old
friend who Lee Khoon Choy met when he went to London to attend a class for
advanced study in journalism ten years prior (1949).
Lee has
since then served in government for almost three decades before he retired in
1988. In 2005, he was invited by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to attend the
50th anniversary of the Bandung Conference. But to him, there's "no second
Bandung Conference" like the one in 1955.
"China
brought up the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence at the Bandung
Conference, which was very good," he said.
"During
the conference, Zhou got the opportunity to explain to other countries that
China was not trying to subvert their political power, and it was the first
time China established connectivity with countries in the world. Zhou made a
great contribution to this."
It was not
until 20 years later when Lee and Zhou met again. In 1975, Lee, the then
minister of state for foreign affairs, visited China with Singapore's foreign
minister S. Rajaratnam.
Zhou, who
was suffering from cancer at that time, met them in Beijing where he was
hospitalized. To his surprise, Zhou "had a really remarkable memory."
"He
said, 'Oh, we met in Bandung and you had interviewed me," Lee said and
smiled.
That trip
later kicked off bilateral communications between Singapore and China.
Since the
first trip to China in 1975, Lee has visited China more than 100 times, either
as a politician, diplomat, tourist, businessman or antique collector. He has
witnessed the dramatic changes of China.
"I
admire Xi Jinping's axe on corruption, it will do great good to China,"
Lee said.
Editor: Mengjie
These leaders are going to fall over. You'll have a slow developing leadership coming to you all over the earth where there is a new energy of caring about the public. "That's just too much to ask for in politics, Kryon." Watch for it. That's just the beginning of this last phase. So many things are coming. The next one is related to this, for a country in survival with sickness cannot sustain a leadership of high consciousness. There is just too much opportunity for power and greed. But when a continent is healed, everything changes. .."
".. Many years ago, the prevailing thought was that nobody should consider China as a viable player on the economic stage. They were backward, filled with a system that would never be westernized, and had no wish to become joined with the rest of the world's economic systems. Look what has happened in only 30 years. Now, look at Africa differently …”
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“… Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013. They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader. Remember where you heard it... in a strange, esoteric meeting with a guy in a chair pretending to channel. [Kryon being factious... Kryon humor] Then when you hear it, you'll know better, won't you? "Maybe there was something really there," you'll say. "Maybe it was real," you'll say. Perhaps you can skip all the drama of the years to come and consider that now? [Kryon humor again]
These leaders are going to fall over. You'll have a slow developing leadership coming to you all over the earth where there is a new energy of caring about the public. "That's just too much to ask for in politics, Kryon." Watch for it. That's just the beginning of this last phase. So many things are coming. The next one is related to this, for a country in survival with sickness cannot sustain a leadership of high consciousness. There is just too much opportunity for power and greed. But when a continent is healed, everything changes. .."
".. Many years ago, the prevailing thought was that nobody should consider China as a viable player on the economic stage. They were backward, filled with a system that would never be westernized, and had no wish to become joined with the rest of the world's economic systems. Look what has happened in only 30 years. Now, look at Africa differently …”
" .... Africa
Let me tell you where else it's happening that you are unaware - that which is the beginning of the unity of the African states. Soon the continent will have what they never had before, and when that continent is healed and there is no AIDS and no major disease, they're going to want what you have. They're going to want houses and schools and an economy that works without corruption. They will be done with small-minded leaders who kill their populations for power in what has been called for generations "The History of Africa." Soon it will be the end of history in Africa, and a new continent will emerge.
Be aware that the strength may not come from the expected areas, for new leadership is brewing. There is so much land there and the population is so ready there, it will be one of the strongest economies on the planet within two generations plus 20 years. And it's going to happen because of a unifying idea put together by a few. These are the potentials of the planet, and the end of history as you know it.
In approximately 70 years, there will be a black man who leads this African continent into affluence and peace. He won't be a president, but rather a planner and a revolutionary economic thinker. He, and a strong woman with him, will implement the plan continent-wide. They will unite. This is the potential and this is the plan. Africa will arise out the ashes of centuries of disease and despair and create a viable economic force with workers who can create good products for the day. You think China is economically strong? China must do what it does, hobbled by the secrecy and bias of the old ways of its own history. As large as it is, it will have to eventually compete with Africa, a land of free thinkers and fast change. China will have a major competitor, one that doesn't have any cultural barriers to the advancement of the free Human spirit.. ...."
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