In 1955, Premier Zhou’s special plane was bombed, and who the murderer was still a mystery

In 1955, Premier Zhou Enlai went to Bandung to participate in the first Asian-African Conference , planning to take the Air India plane " Kashmir Princess" to Jakarta, April 11 After the plane took off as planned, it crashed into the sea in the northwestern region of North Borneo. All 11 passengers and 5 crew members on board were killed. 3 crew members survived by chance. This is the "Kashmir Princess" air crash that shocked China and foreign countries.

This air crash was not accidental. It was a political murder between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party with the intention of murdering Premier Zhou Enlai, one of the top Chinese officials. Fortunately, Premier Zhou had just finished the appendicitis operation and received an invitation from the then Prime Minister of Myanmar Wu Nu to participate in an informal small meeting. The participants included Myanmar Prime Minister Wu Nu and Indian Prime Minister Nehru. With Egyptian President Nasser, Premier Zhou secretly changed his itinerary temporarily, first from Kunming to Myanmar's capital Yangon for the meeting, and then from Yangon to Bandung to attend the meeting. Some of the Chinese delegation staff and Xinhua News Agency reporters who followed the Prime Minister to attend the Bandung Conference still took the "Kashmir Princess" flight as planned. As a result, a tragedy occurred and the world was angered!

The Asian-African Conference touched on the interests of the United States and aimed at China

After the Second World War, due to the continuous plunder and encroachment of imperialism, many countries in Asia and Africa became colonies, serious The threat of national sovereignty and territorial security, and the loss of people’s livelihood. Under such circumstances, more and more leaders of Asian and African countries believe that they can no longer stand still and need to do something. The colonial countries have begun to advocate national independence and promote the vigorous development of national liberation. Asian and African countries must work together to strengthen international cooperation, uphold peace, oppose aggression, oppose foreign countries' establishment of military bases on their own territories, and achieve political and economic independence.The goal of protecting national territorial security and developing the national economy. Based on this goal, on April 18, 1955, a game was initiated by five countries including India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Pakistan, Afghanistan, Cambodia, the People’s Republic of China, Egypt, Ethiopia The first Asian-African conference with the participation of 29 countries was held in Bandung.

For the third world, the importance of the Asian-African Conference is obvious. The Asian-African Conference touched the interests of the United States. In order to prevent the convening of this conference, the United States fabricated rumors that "China wants to seize the leadership of the Asian-African world" and aimed its spearhead at the New China in order to create people's opposition to the new China. Suspicions and panic provoke relations between China and other Asian and African countries. The Chinese government has always supported the Asian-African Conference and sent Premier Zhou Enlai to lead the Vice Premier of the State Council Chen Yi, Foreign Trade Minister Ye Jizhuang, Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Hanfu, and Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Huang Zhen to attend the Asian-African Conference. The Kuomintang authorities took advantage of this meeting and adopted rigorous planning and brutal methods to create the "Kashmir Princess" air crash to assassinate Premier Zhou Enlai.

On April 9th, on the eve of the Chinese delegation’s flight to take part in the Bandung Conference, Premier Zhou, who was in Kunming, had changed its itinerary and received a secret report from our party’s intelligence agent: The United States and the Kuomintang secret agents plan to fight in Hong Kong. We carried out sabotage operations, but the specific details are not yet clear. Premier Zhou quickly called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and issued an order to tell the news to the British Hong Kong authorities so that they can take necessary measures to protect the safety of the Chinese delegation. And inform the reporters and delegation staff of Xinhua News Agency who are about to take this flight of this situation, and ask them to be vigilant and take countermeasures. On behalf of the Chinese delegation, Pan Desheng, the Hong Kong branch of Xinhua News Agency, negotiated with the personnel of , requiring the Indian side to take measures to protect the safety of the aircraft and personnel. The Indian side said: According to the plan, the "Kashmir Princess" will take off after refueling in Hong Kong. It will only stay for about an hour. Air India will personally appoint a dedicated mechanic to inspect the aircraft, as well as the fuel and food of the aircraft. Check, the luggage will be escorted by a special person,Keep outsiders away from the aircraft. On April 10th, the Chinese side had an emergency meeting with the British Representative Office Counsellor Aitis. Zhang Yue, then Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attended on behalf of the Chinese side, and informed the British side of the situation, and jointly discussed protective measures to damage the enemy. s plan.

On April 11, after the "Kashmir Princess" plane landed in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong police sent a police car to monitor behind the plane, focusing on the baggage check and the entrance of the plane, but ignored the ground staff at the airport. ! After no abnormality was found, the "Kashmir Princess" took off from Hong Kong's Kai Tak Airport at 12:15 noon on April 11, and was expected to arrive in Jakarta in 7 hours. No one thought that this time it was a farewell! At around 17:30 Beijing time, only one hour from Jakarta, the plane crashed.

On April 19, the Chinese delegation to the Bandung Conference received an anonymous letter. The letter clearly stated: The Kuomintang branch in Jakarta has ordered the Kuomintang branch in Jakarta to assassinate Premier Zhou Enlai. Xi formed a death squad of 28 people. The U.S. Embassy in Indonesia equips each member of the death squad with a silent gun and gives them generous rewards. The signature of the letter was "Awakened Kuomintang Assassin." Based on the current security situation, the delegation immediately took strict protective measures against Premier Zhou Enlai. The Indonesian government has specially assigned an army captain to serve as a security deputy for Premier Zhou Enlai, as well as 5 police officers to protect the safety of Premier Zhou at all times. The Bandung area also sent a large number of police forces to guard against it. When Premier Zhou Enlai went out, not only motorcycles opened the way, but also military police jeep entourage.

In order to protect the safety of Premier Zhou, the original plan of the Chinese delegation to return to Hong Kong by boat on May 5 was disrupted. On May 1st, Premier Zhou, delegation members and reporters were secretly sent to Yunnan by a special plane. It is said that a large amount of guns and ammunition were found on the ship that Premier Zhou originally planned to take.

Sudden disaster, a Sino-British joint investigation

On the evening of April 11, 1955, the Chinese government received an emergency telegram from Singapore’s Reuters. The content of the telegram made people very angry and sad: "The Princess of Kashmir "On the way to Jakarta from Hong Kong,Wrecked in the sea northwest of North Borneo, and the fuselage crashed into the sea. There were 11 passengers on board, including 3 staff from the Chinese government and 5 reporters, as well as 3 foreign staff. There were 8 crew members on the aircraft.

The incident immediately caused condemnation from the international community after the incident was exposed. The Chinese government responded immediately after receiving the report. The Indonesian government and the British Royal Singapore Air Force actively carried out search and rescue activities, searching for the "Kashmir Princess" aircraft and Personnel on board. On April 12, the wreck of the "Kashmir Princess" was found 500 kilometers northeast of Singapore. At the same time, three remains were found near Stanau in the Natuna Islands, Indonesia. Two of them were crew members and the other had been Unrecognizable.

On May 9, 1955, the Chinese government held a meeting in the Conference Hall of the State Council to discuss the next steps and strategies for the air crash. Premier Zhou Enlai presided over the meeting. Premier Zhou deployed the next strategy at the meeting, and must encourage the United Kingdom to cooperate with us, solve the case as soon as possible, and make the United States and the Kuomintang agents become infamous in front of the people of the world. Because the British government is scrupulous about the relationship with the United States on the one hand and Sino-British cooperation on the other hand, in order to stimulate British cooperation, the Chinese government adopts a combination of tension and pressure. Premier Zhou Enlai conveyed China's wishes to British Prime Minister Aydin through Du Weilian, Chargé d'affaires in China: The Chinese government hopes that the British government can instruct the Hong Kong authorities to work closely with China to detect the accident of the "Kashmir Princess" as soon as possible. China will provide the Hong Kong authorities with information to help the Hong Kong authorities solve the case. At the same time, the following requirements are put forward: Hong Kong authorities need to keep relevant information strictly confidential, and strictly monitor the relevant persons involved in the material to prevent them from escaping. When the suspected main persons are strictly interrogated, there should be Chinese personnel present. If Britain deliberately does not solve the case, it can fight against Britain depending on the circumstances. British Prime Minister Aiden expressed his willingness to cooperate fully with the Chinese government. China and Britain will jointly investigate this incident.

On May 25, 1955, the investigation of the "Kashmir Princess" incident made new progress. The Aircraft Crash Committee reported the investigation results to Premier Zhou Enlai. The aircraft exploded due to an external device.The right wing of the plane was completely destroyed, and the time bomb that destroyed the plane needed to explode within 12 hours. It was confirmed that the explosive was placed when the plane was parked in Hong Kong. At that time, due to political reasons, the CCP’s aircraft could not land in Hong Kong. The Chinese delegation needed to go to Hong Kong via Guangzhou. The Kuomintang intelligence unit in Guangzhou learned of this and planned and designed this assassination operation. Chinese flights cannot fly directly to Indonesia, and the Chinese delegation decided to charter a flight to Jakarta. After discussing with Air India, it was finally determined that the aircraft was the "Kashmir Princess". The aircraft flew to Hong Kong according to normal flights, and then chartered by China in the afternoon. Therefore, the aircraft would stay for a while after landing in Hong Kong and gave it to the KMT agents. Opportunity.

Chinese intelligence agencies have been secretly investigating the case and collecting relevant information. The intelligence shows: The assassination was planned by the Kuomintang’s Hong Kong Intelligence Bureau. The bomb used was a small time-fired bomb made in the United States. Ground crew Zhou Ju was responsible for placing bombs on the plane. Premier Zhou personally named this detailed, complete and specific intelligence "The First Intelligence Provided to British Hong Kong Authorities." Xiong Xianghui, then deputy director of the Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of , was responsible for handing over the information to the Hong Kong police. Based on this information, the Hong Kong authorities decided to arrest the suspect immediately.

At this moment, he received outrageous news that Zhou Ju was missing. It turned out that on May 18, the 36th day after the incident, Zhou Ju secretly hid in the luggage compartment of a flight and smuggled to Taiwan. After learning of this news, the Chinese side asked the British Hong Kong authorities to extradite Zhou Ju back to Hong Kong for trial, but the British Hong Kong authorities rejected the fact that there is no extradition treaty between Taiwan and Hong Kong. The British Hong Kong authorities concluded the case with only Zhou Ju guilty, and all the other major criminals were deported to Taiwan, so that the perpetrators were not brought to justice in the case. It is regrettable to this day.

Memories of the survivors

In this incident, three crew members were lucky to survive. One of them was Carnick, the maintenance engineer of Air India, who wrote his memoir in 1958 "Kashmir Princess", a detailed introduction to the situation at the time of the plane crash.

Carnik wrote in his memoir:

After the plane stopped in Hong Kong,Workers from Hong Kong Airlines conducted a comprehensive inspection of the aircraft. At that time, the rest of the crew went to the restaurant for dinner, but when the crew got off the plane, Kaniko noticed that he was missing two pieces of luggage, so he went to the restaurant to inform the other crew to look for them, and left for about ten minutes on the way. The plane took off as planned. When the plane was crossing the Kuching waters of Sarawak, North Borneo, flying at an altitude of about 5,000 meters, the plane crashed. With a bang and a dull explosion, a fire broke out behind the engine pod on the right wing of the cabin, and the fire was completely out of control. Captain Jack was very calm. On the one hand, he ordered the crew to extinguish the fire, and on the other hand, he signaled the plane crash to the ground. Since there was no place to land nearby, the captain decided to make an emergency landing on the water, but the fire had already burned to the main fuel tank. Although the captain and the deputy captain controlled the aircraft with all their strength, the aircraft fell into the sea like a broken kite. At the juncture of life and death, the captain ordered the crew to open all emergency exits and cockpit doors. All personnel on the plane were wearing life jackets. Once they escaped from the cabin, there was a possibility of survival.

Carnick recalled the last moments on the plane, the plane was very close to the surface of the water, only a few feet high, and it was too late to reach the door of the cabin. The passengers in the cabin were all sitting in their positions, facing death with a steel-like will, facing the raging fire in the cabin, everyone did not have a trace of fear on their faces. After the plane fell into the water, Karnick swam out and saw a sea of ​​flames on the sea where the burning wings fell. He swam desperately to the nearby islands. Together with two other lucky people, he stayed in the water for about 7 hours before being rescued by local residents and eventually taken away by a British frigate. This restored to the world what happened when the plane crashed. If there are no survivors, this moment may never be known.

The truth is revealed in the world

On September 2, 1955, the British Government Chargé d’affaires in China Ou Nienru submitted the "Comprehensive Report of Police Investigation on the Vandalism of the Princess of Kashmir" to the Chinese government. The report gave a detailed introduction. The whole story about this assassination.

When I learned about Premier Zhou Enlai’s plan for the Bandung Conference from Hong Kong,The Kuomintang spies planned to implement this operation in Hong Kong, and Zhao Bincheng, the protégé protégé of the "military reunification" leader Dai Li , was in charge of the entire program planning by Mao Renfeng's order. But who will plant the bomb? Hong Kong Airport The internal security measures are in place. You can only find the staff inside the airport. This person has to be bold and careful and easy to buy. A senior agent with the pseudonym "Wu Yiqing" is responsible for finding suitable candidates. After a period of observation, an airport ground staff named "Zhou Ju" entered Wu Yiqing's sight. It is understood that Zhou Ju is a single man, who is not engaged in business, eating, drinking, and gambling, and has a father who is addicted to gambling.

Wu Yiqing started contacting Zhou Ju and learned about Zhou Ju's personality and habits. When the time was right, he invited Zhou Ju to participate in this mission as an agent. Zhou Ju initially rejected Wu Yiqing. Later, Wu Yiqing offered attractive offers. After the event was completed, Zhou Ju not only received a generous reward of 600,000 Hong Kong dollars, but the Kuomintang would also arrange for him to settle in Taiwan to protect his life. Zhou Ju didn’t. Resisting the temptation, Wu Yiqing agreed. Afterwards, Zhou Ju began to receive training from KMT agents to learn how to place bombs, understand the internal structure of the aircraft, and determine where to place the bombs. In order to prevent the news from leaking, they placed Zhou Ju in a small hotel, under constant surveillance by special agents, and did not release him until the eve of the plane crash.

On April 11th, according to the original plan, the Kuomintang agents handed over the bomb disguised as toothpaste to Zhou Ju. Zhou Ju took the bomb into the plane under the name of cleaning. Set in a hidden corner, the whole process only takes two minutes. When the Hong Kong Police Department was investigating this case, Zhou Ju was summoned twice. However, according to the KMT secret agent, Zhou Ju killed him and said nothing and knew nothing. In the end, he escaped justice and absconded in Taiwan.

Until 2002, Gu Wenwen, who had served as Taiwan’s "Detective and Defense Group Leader" of the Secret Bureau, was interviewed by the Hong Kong " Phoenix Weekly" and once again exposed the "Kashmir Princess" incident. Throughout the assassination, it was admitted that this incident was done by the "Secret Bureau" of Chiang Kai-shek.Zhao Bincheng and Chen Hongju and Gu Zhengwen, who were aliased as "Wu Yiqing", participated in the planning and implementation of this incident. At that time, Zhou Ju escaped to Taiwan. The Taiwan Security Command thought Zhou Ju was a Hong Kong stowak and detained him. It was Gu Zhengwen who brought him back from the Taiwan airport and placed him in Taiwan. In 1993, Zhou Ju died in Taiwan.

Even though all the personnel who planned to participate in the "Kashmir Princess" incident have passed away today, it is a great pity that they have not been arrested. In this air crash, three Chinese government staff members Shi Zhiang, Li Zhaoji, Zhong Buyun, five reporters Shen Jiantu, Huang Zuomei, Du Hong, Li Ping, and Hao Fengge sacrificed for the country. The martyrs’ cemetery was built in Beijing. On Babao Mountain, the front of the tombstone is engraved with the words "Cemetery of Martyrs Who Participated in the Asian-African Conference" personally inscribed by Premier Zhou. The back of the tombstone is the name and brief introduction of the victims. The inscription on the stele records the process of sacrifice of the martyrs in detail. The last sentence is: "The martyrs who sacrificed honorably for the cause of peace, independence and freedom will be immortal!" Their names will be the same as the cause for which they sacrificed. Remember the motherland and people!

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