中共中央南方局开展“半独立外交”促进建立最广泛的国际统一战线
2021-08-23
抗戰时期,中国共产党不是执政党,难于用直接和全面的外交方式来实行自己提出的外交政策。但中共作为中国一股重要的政治力量,同时也是世界反法西斯的重要力量,越来越被国际社会重视和承认。随着对外联络对象的不断增加,中共中央南方局的对外交往也从民间扩大到官方,并以美、英为重点对象,逐步打开了外交局面,开始了“半独立外交”。
美国是世界头号强国,也是反法西斯阵营最主要的力量。周恩来很重视争取美国对中共的了解和对中国抗战的支援。在重庆,周恩来代表中共先后会见了美国驻华大使詹森、美国总统经济顾问柯里和其他美国政府官员,向他们介绍中共的抗日主张和八路军、新四军艰苦抗战的情况。
皖南事变后,周恩来立即联系美国总统特使居里,向他提供了国民党顽固派制造摩擦的有关材料,着重阐明蒋介石如不改变反共政策,势必导致中国内战,使抗战熄火,日本南进。美国政府得到报告后,立即要居里向蒋介石声明:“美国政府在国共纠纷未解决前,无法大量援华,中美间的经济、财政等各种问题,不可能有任何进展。”为了同美国建立直接联系,1942年至1943年,周恩来曾多次邀请美国派官方代表团访问延安。1944年7月至8月,美军观察组一行17人在包瑞德的率领下,分两批到达延安。美军观察组的成员通过实地考察和与中共领导人交谈,不仅直接了解了抗日根据地的情况,还更深入地感受到了中共希望在击败日本和建设新中国的斗争中和美国合作。周恩来对此高度评价:“我们不应把他们的访问和观察当作普通行动,而应把这看作是我们在国际间统一战线的开展,是我们外交工作的开始。尽管这种外交还是半独立外交。”
英国作为反法西斯阵营的重要成员国,其对国民党政府也有着重要的影响,周恩来对英国驻华大使馆的作用非常重视,他积极地与英国驻华大使卡尔交往。周恩来的温文尔雅和热情使卡尔佩服不已,卡尔对中共的抗日主张和取得的抗日成绩也有了更深的了解。皖南事变后,周恩来亲自到卡尔的寓所,向他揭露国民党顽固派发动皖南事变的内幕,卡尔马上将这一情况向英国政府汇报。英国政府在收到卡尔的报告后,告诉蒋介石,内战只会加强日军的攻击。1942年初,卡尔离华赴苏,周恩来不仅参加了卡尔的离任告别宴会,还指示《新华日报》发表两篇社论,对卡尔表示惜别并致友好的临别赠言,称其为“中国的好朋友”。薛穆接任大使后,周恩来又多次前往,并就许多问题与之交谈,使他对中共的抗日立场和主张也有了较多了解,并建立起了良好的关系。1945年,在周恩来的安排下,薛穆还与正在参加重庆谈判的毛泽东会面,双方进行了畅谈。
此外,周恩来等中共中央南方局领导人经常就国共关系、抗战、苏援等问题同苏联驻华大使潘友新、武官崔可夫进行交谈,得到了他们的支持和理解。同时,周恩来多次向法国驻华大使贝志高、加拿大驻华大使欧德伦等人积极宣传中国抗战情况和国共关系情况,表明中共抗日的坚定决心,希望加强盟国之间的团结合作。
经过周恩来等人的不懈努力,中共的“半独立外交”开创了新的里程碑。1945年4月至6月,另一名中共中央南方局领导人董必武作为中共代表成为中国代表团的一员,出席在美国旧金山召开的联合国制宪会议,这是中国共产党在国际政治舞台上的首次正式公开亮相,打破了国民党垄断外交的局面,表明中国共产党已步入国际社会。
During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the Communist Party of China (CPC) was not the ruling party, and it was difficult to implement its proposed foreign policy in a direct and comprehensive diplomatic manner. Yet the CPC was increasingly valued and recognized by the international community as an important political force in China, and also as an important force in the world against fascism. With the increasing number of foreign contacts, the Southern Bureau of the CPC Central Committee expanded its international contacts from civil to official levels, with the US and UK as the key targets, gradually gaining new ground for its diplomatic policies and initiating a 'semi-independent diplomacy'.
Not only was United States the world's number one power but it was the most dominant force in the anti-fascist camp. Zhou Enlai attached great importance to gaining the United States' understanding of the CPC and support for China's war effort. In Chongqing, on behalf of the CPC, Zhou Enlai met with Mr. Nelson Trusler Johnson, the US Ambassador in China, and Mr. Lauchlin Currie, economic adviser to the president of the United States, among other US government officials, to brief them on the CPC's anti-Japanese advocacy and the arduous efforts of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army in fighting the war.
Immediately after the Southern Anhui Incident, Zhou Enlai contacted Currie, the special envoy of the US President, and provided him with documents relating to the friction created by the Kuomintang diehards, with a focus on the fact that if Chiang Kai-shek did not change his anti-communist policy, it would inevitably lead to a civil war in China, which would extinguish the resistance efforts and allow Japan to advance southward. Right after receiving the report, the US government asked Currie to make clear with Chiang Kai-shek that "the US government is unable to provide substantial aid to China until the dispute between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China is resolved, and that no progress can be made on various economic and financial fronts between China and the US." To establish direct contact with the U.S., Zhou Enlai invited the U.S. to send an official delegation to visit Yan'an on several occasions between 1942 and 1943. From July to August 1944, the United States Army Observer Group, consisting of 17 members with David D. Barrett as its chief, arrived in two batches in Yan'an. Through their fieldwork and conversations with the Chinese Communist leaders, the group members not only gained a direct understanding of the situation in the anti-Japanese base areas, but also gained a deeper sense of the Communist Party's desire to cooperate with the United States in the battle to defeat Japan and build a new China. Zhou Enlai spoke highly of this: "We should not regard their visit and observation as an ordinary action, but as the launch of our united front among the international community, the beginning of our diplomatic work. Even though this diplomacy is still semi-independent".
The UK, as an important member of the anti-fascist camp, also had an important influence on the Kuomintang government and Zhou Enlai attached great importance to the role of the British Embassy in China. He proactively engaged with the British Ambassador to China, Sir Archibald Clark-Kerr, who was impressed by Zhou Enlai's gentle and cultivated manner and warmth and gained a deeper understanding of the Communist Party's anti-Japanese ideas and achievements. After the Southern Anhui Incident, Zhou Enlai called on Clark-Kerr's apartment and exposed the inner workings of the Kuomintang's diehards in staging the Southern Anhui Incident, and Clark-Kerr immediately reported the situation to the British Government. In early 1942, when Clark-Kerr left China for the Soviet Union, Zhou Enlai not only attended Clark-Kerr's farewell party, also instructed the Xinhua Daily to publish two editorials, bidding farewell and expressing good wishes to him, calling him 'a good friend of China'. In 1945, Zhou Enlai arranged for Horace Seymour, the British Ambassador to China, to meet with Mao Zedong, who attended the Chongqing negotiations, and they had a good talk.
Besides, Zhou Enlai and other leaders of the Southern Bureau of the CPC Central Committee often talked with Soviet Ambassador Alexander Panyushkin and Military Attaché Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov on issues such as the relations between the Communist Party of China, the War of Resistance and Soviet aid, and won their support and understanding. At the same time, Zhou Enlai kept Mr. Zinovi Pechkoff, the French Ambassador to China, and Major General Victor Wentworth Odlum, the Canadian Ambassador to China informed of the situation of China's resistance efforts and the relations between the CPC and Kuomintang to show the CPCs firm determination in resistance against the Japanese aggression, hoping to strengthen the unity and cooperation among the allied countries.
The tireless efforts of Zhou Enlai and others set a new milestone for the CPC's 'semi-independent diplomacy'. Dong Biwu, another leader of the Southern Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, was a member of the Chinese delegation to the San Francisco conference convened from April through June 1945 to draw up the Charter of the United Nations, the first official public appearance of the CPC in the international political arena, breaking the KMT's monopoly on diplomacy and demonstrating that the CPC had entered the international community.
》》》延伸阅读
中共代表董必武参加联合国制宪会议
1943年5月共产国际宣布解散后,中国共产党加速了走向世界的进程。董必武便是这一新历程的开创者和先驱。
抗日战争期间,董必武作为中共的七個国民参政员之一常驻重庆,参与领导了整个中共中央南方局在国民党统治区的工作。中国共产党对于美、英的外交争取工作始于反对国民党顽固派第三次反共高潮的斗争。当国民党部署重兵、准备进攻陕甘宁边区时,董必武独力承担起领导南方局全面工作的重任,在开展对于各民主党派、民主人士工作的同时,向各国驻重庆记者和使馆官员说明真相,宣传制止内战、共同抗日,迫使蒋介石改变反共计划。毛泽东高度赞扬董必武在重庆的工作“很得力”。
抗日战争后期,董必武加强了同英、美等国记者,英、美使馆和美军代表团的接触,积极促成了1944年中外记者团和美军观察团访问延安,向世界介绍宣传了中国共产党带领敌后抗日根据地军民抗战的情况,打破了国民党对敌后抗日根据地的封锁。
中国共产党走向世界的一次重要展示,是董必武以中国共产党代表的身份,作为中国代表团成员参加联合国制宪会议。1945年4月25日,联合国制宪会议在美国旧金山举行,中共中央派遣董必武率随员章汉夫、陈家康参会。5月1日,中国代表团举行中外记者招待会,到会记者600余人,最引人注目的是中共代表董必武。他不卑不亢、笑容可掬,一派政治家又似学者的风度,博得全场热烈的掌声。不少人都通过董必武认识了中国共产党的真实形象。董必武参加了旧金山会议第三委员会的工作,与他国代表经过数百小时的仔细推敲,为完成《联合国宪章》这一历史性的文件作出了贡献。6月26日,董必武出席了《联合国宪章》签字仪式。董必武与中国代表团全体成员一起,被安排最早在该宪章上签字。随后,他又参加了在旧金山歌剧院举行的闭幕式,实现了中国共产党在世界政治大舞台上的重要亮相。
会后,董必武来到纽约,在美国继续停留4个多月,开辟了中国共产党走向世界的又一个重要战场。他广泛接触各方友好人士和海外侨胞,积极宣传中国共产党的政策主张。他还冲破国民党的新闻封锁,在美国筹划出版发行了用英文印刷的《中国解放区实录》5000册,介绍解放区在中国共产党领导下抗击日本侵略者取得的光辉战绩和伟大成就。这些工作对于推动美国民众、海外侨胞和世界人民了解中国共产党起到了重要的作用。 (部分资料由中共重庆市委党史研究室提供)
图片/市政府外办提供
编辑/杨艳
Following the dissolution of the Communist International in May 1943, the Communist Party of China accelerated its journey to the world, on which Dong Biwu was the initiator and the pioneer.
During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Dong Biwu, one of the seven councilors to National Political Council on behalf of the Communist Party of China, was based in Chongqing and took part in leading the work of the entire Southern Bureau of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in the Nationalist-ruled areas. The CPC's diplomatic efforts to win over the United States and Britain began with the struggle against the third anti-communist upsurge of the KMT's diehards. When the Kuomintang deployed heavy troops to attack the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Area, Dong Biwu took up the responsibility of leading the Southern Bureau across the board. While working with the democratic parties and personages, he explained the truth to journalists and embassy officials in Chongqing and promoted the idea of stopping the civil war and fighting against Japanese aggression in a common endeavor, thus forcing Chiang Kai-shek to change his anti-communist schemes. Mao Zedong highly praised Dong Biwu's work in Chongqing as "very effective".
During the latter part of the war, Dong Biwu strengthened contacts with journalists from Britain and the United States, British and American embassies and the American military delegation, and actively facilitated the visit of a Chinese and foreign press corps and an American military observer group to Yan'an in 1944, which introduced and publicized to the world the situation of the Communist Party of China leading the military and civilian resistance in anti-Japanese base areas in the enemy rear and smashed the blockade imposed by the Kuomintang on the anti-Japanese base areas in the enemy rear.
One of the most important demonstrations of the CPC's global reach was Dong Biwu's role as a delegate of the CPC in the founding conference of the United Nations, held in San Francisco on April 25, 1945. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to send Dong Biwu to the United States with his associates Zhang Hanfu and Chen Jiakang to attend the convention. On May 1, the Chinese delegation held a press conference with the presence of 600 or more journalists, the most notable of whom was Dong Biwu, neither humble nor pushy and smiling with a manner of statesman or scholar. He received rounds of applause from the audience. Many people were introduced to the real image of the Communist Party of China through Dong Biwu. Dong Biwu participated in the work of the Third Committee of the San Francisco Conference and contributed to the completion of the historic document, the Charter of the United Nations, after hundreds of hours of careful deliberation with representatives of other countries. On June 26, Dong Biwu attended the signing ceremony of the Charter of the United Nations. Together with all members of the Chinese delegation, Dong Biwu was scheduled to sign the Charter at the earliest opportunity. This was followed by participation in the closing ceremony at the San Francisco Opera House, helping the Communist Party of China cut a splendid dash on the world political stage.
After the meeting, Dong Biwu came to New York and continued to stay in the United States for more than four months, creating another important battlefield for the Communist Party of China to go global. He reached out to a wide range of friendly people and overseas Chinese and actively promoted the policy ideas of the CPC. He also broke through the Kuomintang's press blockade and planned the publication of 5,000 copies of The Facts of the Liberated Areas of China, printed in English, to introduce the glorious achievements of the Liberated Areas against the Japanese invaders under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. These efforts have played an important role in promoting understanding of the Communist Party of China among the American public, overseas Chinese and the people of the world.
(Some information provided by the Party History Research Office of the CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee)
Photos / Foreign Affairs Office of Chongqing Municipal People's Government
Editor/Yang Yan