Nongovernmental Diplomacy―Half a Century’s Glory

Nongovernmental diplomacy is an important component of China’s diplomatic work. As early as in the 1950s Premier Zhou Enlai had already said that China’s diplomacy is one that combines official, semi-official and nongovernmental diplomacy. Over the past half a century nongovernmental diplomacy has made an indelible contribution to letting the world know about China and China know about the world and promoting the unity and cooperation between the peoples of China and other countries in the world.

In the early period of new China, only a small number of countries established diplomatic relations with China. By 1954 only 19 countries had established diplomatic relations with China. However, people of various countries in the world were increasingly eager to know about new China and have exchanges with it. As a result, nongovernmental diplomacy flourished. At that time nongovernmental diplomatic activities were mainly carried out by four major national people’s organizations, i.e. the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), the All-China Youth Federation (ACYF), the All-China Women’s Federation (ACWF) and the Chinese People’s Committee for World Peace (CPCWP). External exchanges carried out by other people’s organizations including the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs, the Red Cross Society of China, the China Council for Promotion of International Trade, the All-China Sports Federation, etc. also increased. To coordinate external activities carried out by various people’s organizations, in April 1953 the Central Committee of the CPC specially set up the Coordinating Committee of the Central Committee of the CPC for International Activities with Wang Jiaxiang as chairman and Liao Chengzhi as vice chairman. By March 1958 unified leadership of China’s diplomatic work, which had been developed and expanded in an all-round way, urgently needed to be strengthened. Premier Zhou timely decided to rescind the Coordinating Committee and establish the Foreign Affairs Office of the State Council with Vice Premier Chen Yi as director.

1952 saw an upsurge of nongovernmental diplomatic activities. At that time the world peace movement was surging. The world people’s demand for peace and opposition to war had become the tide of the times. At the beginning of 1952, supported by the World Peace Council, Chinese renowned social activists including Soong Ching Ling and Guo Moruo proposed to convene the Peace Conference of Asian and Pacific Regions in Beijing. Peng Zhen, Liao Chengzhi and Liu Ningyi were in charge of preparations for the conference.

After intense preparations for more than half a year, the conference was at last held in the Huairen Hall of Zhongnanhai on October 2, 1952. 436 delegates from 37 countries in Asia, Oceania and along the Pacific Ocean attended the ten-day conference. On the evening of October 12 Peng Zhen presided over the last session of the conference, at which the Appeal to the Peoples of the World and the decision to set up the Peace Liaison Committee of the Asian and Pacific Regions were approved. Soong Ching Ling was elected chairwoman of the Committee.

The conference, the first large-scale international conference ever held in China since the founding of the People’s Republic, not only promoted the peace movement in Asia and the Pacific region, but also played a great role in breaking up the blockade imposed by the United States, letting the people in various countries know about new China and strengthening China’s relations with other Asian and Pacific countries.

Shortly following that, in December 1952 the World Peace Council held the Congress of the Peoples for Peace in Vienna. This was a grand congress participated by over 1,800 delegates from 85 countries including many world-famous figures. China sent an unprecedentedly large delegation of 108 members with Soong Ching Ling and Guo Moruo as its head and deputy head and consisting of many famous figures of various circles including Liao Chengzhi, Liu Ningyi, Shen Yanbing, Wu Lengxi, Jin Zhonghua, Shi Liang, Luo Longji, Chen Shutong, Mei Lanfang and Chang Xiangyu. Before the departure, Premier Zhou met with the delegation, saying: “You 108 people are all outstanding representatives of various circles. Each of you should display your talent, make friends extensively and publicize new China as it is so that through you the representatives of other countries will see the spirit of the people of new China.”

The conference was presided over by the famous scientist Mme Irene Joliot-Curie, chairwoman of the World Peace Council. Renowned painter Pablo Picasso specially painted a dove of peace for the conference as its symbol. The conference passed the Appeal to the Five Big Powers, and the Declaration of the Congress of the Peoples for Peace.

With the continuous development and expansion of nongovernmental diplomatic activities, in May 1954 initiated by Premier Zhou Enlai, the Chinese People’s Committee for World Peace, the China Federation of Professional Societies of Natural Sciences, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the All-China Women’s Federation and the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs jointly sponsored the Chinese People’s Association for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (CPACRFC) and Chu Tunan was elected its president. The main task of the CPACRFC was to carry out cultural exchanges with foreign countries. In April 1966 the CPACRFC changed its name to the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (CPAFCRFC), which was renamed as the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) in October 1969. Soong Ching Ling and Deng Yingchao were successively its honorary presidents. The change of its name twice indicated that the scope of nongovernmental diplomatic activities had been continuously extended.

Since 1973 China began to establish friendship-city relations with other countries. The semi-governmental friendship activity was coordinated and overseen by the CPAFFC. In order to promote healthy and orderly development of the work, the China International Friendship Cities Association was established in 1992. The activities of twinning friendship-city ties between China and other countries, which are beneficial to both sides, have been developing very fast. In recent years, more than 60 pairs of friendship cities are twinned every year. Up till now, over 1,000 pairs of friendship cities between China and other countries have been twinned.

The year 1986 witnessed another upsurge of nongovernmental diplomatic activities. That year was the International Year of Peace designated by the United Nations. The U.N. called on all member countries to mobilize the masses to hold all kinds of commemorative activities, setting off an upsurge of safeguarding world peace by the people all over the world. The CPAFFC took the lead in organizing activities in China. To this end, the Chinese Organizing Committee for the International Year of Peace consisting of 40 noted figures of various circles were set up with Wang Bingnan, then president of the CPAFFC, as chairman of the Committee.

The Chinese Organizing Committee held a series of important activities in 1986. In March that year the Chinese People’s Rally for World Peace was held in Beijing with an attendance of over 3,500 Chinese and foreign representatives, at which the Chinese Premier for the first time declared to the world that China would no longer conduct nuclear tests in the atmosphere, which was welcomed and praised by the people of various countries. Other activities included the Symposium on the Preservation of Peace, calligraphy, painting and photo exhibitions with the theme of peace, issuance of commemorative stamps and coins for the International Year of Peace, the concert “Let the World Be Filled with Love” at which one hundred singers sang and the First Earth Run initiated by the U.N. Many runners were the most famous athletes in the world. Grand welcoming and celebration ceremonies were held at Tiananmen Square in Beijing and at the Bund in Shanghai. In Beijing Li Xiannian, then president of the PRC, and in Shanghai, Jiang Zemin, then mayor of Shanghai, respectively lit the torch symbolizing world peace. Thanks to the support and cooperation by various circles, the commemorative activities of that year were very successful. For this the CPAFFC received the U.N. Peace Messenger certificate.

During the “cultural revolution”, China’s diplomatic work was seriously disturbed. Nongovernmental diplomatic activities came to a standstill. In May 1969 with the care of Premier Zhou the CPAFCRFC was the first to resume its activities. After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Congress of the CPC in 1978, with the implementation of the policy of reform and opening up, China’s diplomatic work became unprecedentedly active, and nongovernmental diplomacy was carried out through multiple channels at various levels. According to incomplete statistics, in the recent four years, the CPAFFC has received 972 delegations with more than 10,000 person/times from over 60 countries, and sent 316 delegations with 3,000 person/times to 52 countries for goodwill visits. At present the CPAFFC has established relations with more than 550 people’s organizations and international organizations in 130 countries of the world. What deserves special mention is that in 1999 the CPAFFC joined the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA), and in 2001 became a nongovernmental organization in special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

Looking ahead to the 21st century, under the good situation that China has made splendid achievements in its four modernizations and continuously raised its international status, nongovernmental diplomacy will make greater contributions to friendship, cooperation, peace and development.