Zhou Enlai’s Brief Statement to British Chargé d'affaires ad interim Con O’Neill Regarding the Princess of Kashmir Investigation

(Copy)

Mr. Chargé d'affaires ad interim:

We have already received the 16 January 1956 memo regarding the sabotage of the aircraft “The Princess of Kashmir”. On orders of my country’s government, I am to provide the following statement regarding related issues of the memo:

The Chinese government noticed that in the statement from the British government that you delivered on 11 January 1956 regarding the investigation of “the Princess of Kashmir” sabotage case, [the statement] completely affirms the truth that the Chinese government pointed out. [The truth] which is the explosion of the aircraft “The Princess of Kashmir” was planned and organized murder [orchestrated] by Jiang Jieshi’s special agents. The Chinese government believes the British government after long periods of investigation must have affirmed this truth, and it is [also] beneficial to the complete resolution of the case, therefore the Chinese government welcomes this.

According to the request of the British government, the Chinese government once provided material regarding Jiang Jieshi’s special agents who participated in the murder case and related leads. The material was provided to the Hong Kong British administration through our foreign ministry representative in Hong Kong; [the material] was forwarded [to the Hong Kong British administration] through the Indian Government’s Mr. Kaul. The Hong Kong British administration has already [text illegible] many people related to this case by using material provided by the Chinese government. The Chinese government once again and again pointed out that if the British government and the Hong Kong British administration continued investigations based on this foundation then the case can be solved quickly and completely. However, the Chinese government believes it is regrettable that the British government and the Hong Kong British administration did not heed the views of the Chinese government this time; and released prisoners related to the murder case before the case closed. Even more serious is the continued trust and use of Jiang Jieshi special agent Li Luofu to participate in the investigation and interrogation work of this case; which allowed him to continue obstructing the work of resolving this case. This approach by the Hong Kong British administration not only isn’t in accord with what the British government said, it is also inflicting great damage to the work of resolving this case. At the same time, the Chinese government found it especially regrettable that the Hong Kong British administration escorted a group of Jiang Jieshi special agents out of its borders to Taiwan; these agents are hostile to the People’s Republic of China; they were not processed by the law.

Regarding the above described situation, the Chinese government believes it is necessary to once again remind the British government to pay attention to the following view emphasized by the Chinese government: immediately stop using Jiang Jieshi special agent Li Luofu; do not release related prisoners again; continue to investigate earnestly using materials already in [British] possession and detained prisoners. At the same time quickly have wanted prisoner Zhou Ju return to the case, so to make it more convenient for the early full resolution of the case.

The highest regard for,

United Kingdom Chargé d'affaires ad interim Mr. [Con] O’Neill

Zhou Enlai (Signed)

6 February 1956

Beijing