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吴建民视频链接：https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-6Uq4-quDkw
建民论推墙 437 （2018-12-28）：迟来的会面 – 美国前国务卿贝克和两个吴建民的故事
各位观众，大家好！
今天是2018年12月28号。今天我是来交历史作业的。今天我们这个节目，我要来谈一下美国的前国务卿詹姆斯·贝克。
跟踪我这个节目时间长的朋友们都知道我一直在寻找美国原国务卿詹姆斯·贝克先生。今天我要告诉大家，我已经找到了贝克先生。
在今年秋天一个特定的日子里，我和贝克先生已经见了面。在一个友好的会谈后，我一直想把这个节目做出来，但是一直很忙。前一段时间是中美贸易战。后来又发生了华为孟晚舟被抓捕的事情以后，每天的时政新闻节目都很多，所以我一直没有时间来把贝克先生和我见面的这次节目奉献给大家。现在岁末年关了，我就不能再拖下去了。已经到了12月28号，今年就要结束了。在今年年底之前，我就把这档节目奉献给大家。
詹姆斯·贝克和我建民究竟有什么渊源呢？很多朋友长期看我的节目有一定的了解。还有很多新朋友可能不太知道。今天就趁着这个节目，我就把我和詹姆斯·贝克先生之间的缘分告诉大家。
这个事情的起因是在2016年。2016年的时候有一天，我的一位早年就移居香港的当年的老同学，他给我发来了一段消息。他让我去看李敖的一段节目。李敖这个人我素来对他没有任何好感，因为李敖一直是非常亲共的。李敖在他的后半生完全倒向共产党的怀抱，每天为中共的暴政歌功颂德的这么一个人，尤其李敖对六四是抱着极端无耻的态度去看待广大爱国学生的。他是完全维护邓小平，维护中共野蛮屠杀政策的这么一个台湾无耻文人。他的节目我从来就不看！但是我那个朋友告诉我：“你一定要看。这段视频的第7分40秒。” 我说：“是个什么节目呢？” 原来是李敖专门谈六四屠杀，借着中共原来的国务院副总理兼外交部长钱其琛的一本书叫《外交十记》。
李敖谈这本书的时候，谈了一段对六四时候他个人的评判，也把钱其琛的这本书《外交十记》介绍给广大读者。这本书里边暴露的一个历史故事被我这个同学捕捉到了。因为在这个书里面出现了一个历史人物，就是我的名字“吴建民”。按照钱其琛在这本书上写的这个“吴建民”是指的外交部新闻司司长，前驻法国大使那个吴建民。而我的同学一眼就看出钱其琛讲的这个话是谎话。因为历史中的这个人物，这个“吴建民”应当是我本人，所以我的同学劝我赶紧去看，去把这段历史事实搞清楚。这样，我才去看了李敖的这段视频节目。
李敖的这个视频节目里面说得很清楚，是指六四期间美国时任国务卿詹姆斯·贝克先生受美国时任总统老布什总统的派遣，到中国来跟中共进行外交谈判。接待他的是国务院副总理兼外交部长的钱其琛。在这次会谈中，贝克先生谈到人权问题的时候，他拿出了一个被中共羁押的政治犯名单。在这个名单里面，有一个“吴建民”的名字。
钱其琛当时用他外交部的新闻司司长，前驻法国大使的吴建民来张冠李戴，移花接木。他告诉贝克：“你搞错啦。那个名字搞错啦！你讲的那个‘吴建民’不是一个青年学生，不是六四的学生领袖。（我们）没有抓这个人，也没有关这个人。你讲的这个‘吴建民’就是我们外交部新闻司的司长。你把人搞错了。连我们外交部新闻司的司长都上了你政治犯的名单，你也太不严肃了！你搞错了没有？！” 所以，这是钱其琛当时用外交部新闻司司长来张冠李戴。
贝克当时为了化解他们外交谈判中的窘境，就冲着这个在座的新闻司司长的吴建民说了一句：“哦，你放出来了？” 那么按照钱其琛讲，引起哄堂大笑。
钱其琛把这段往事当做一个外交智慧写进了他自己退休以后他的一个外交著作，叫《外交十记》。这本书在2003年出版，后来到2008年和2010年再版过，在中国总共发行了几百万册，是中共党政机关和国家官员必须学习的一本外交著作。钱其琛在这个著作里边一共记录他人生的十件外交大事，其中在中美关于六四问题的时候，他特意记录了我吴建民的这件事。
当然了，他是把它当做一个外交智慧来吹嘘的。而事实和历史又是什么呢？所以我在看完了李敖的这个视频以后，我马上就找到了钱其琛的这本书。这本书的中文版在第190和191页，钱其琛明确地记载了这段往事。也就是说，贝克先生访华拿出了一个长长的政治犯名单。要求中共在改善人权的时候，要首先释放这个名单上的所有政治人物。在这个政治人物的名单里，首先就有我吴建民的名字。而钱其琛巧妙地用他的外交部的新闻司司长吴建民来张冠李戴。
大家都知道，那个吴建民当时已经50多岁，是外交部新闻司的司长。而贝克先生跟他要的是八九六四南京的学生领袖，只有20多岁。用一个50多岁的人来替换一个20多岁的人，钱其琛以为贝克先生根本看不出来。那么，贝克先生当时看没看出来呢？显然，这对我来讲是一个疑团。在我没有见到贝克先生之前，我根本没办法确认贝克先生是不是当时被钱其琛和那个吴建民忽悠过去了。
所以，在我看了这本书和这个视频之后，我在2016年4月份在博闻社发表了一篇文章。在这篇文章中，我就驳斥了中共原外长钱其琛自己的谎言。我这篇文章在博闻社上登载出来以后，很多朋友就关心到了这件事。大家都来询问我关于当年的往事。对于这件往事，我在看了钱其琛的著作，看了李敖这个视频以后，它是给我带来不少回忆的。
大家要知道，一九八九年六四期间，美国总统是老布什在执政。 在老布什执政的这个当口，中国发生了“八九六四”，邓小平血腥地对学生进行屠杀，用坦克车进行碾压的这个残酷的北京天安门事件。这个事件发生以后，全世界都为之哗然！可以这样讲，中共在六四屠杀广大学生之后，这个政党执政的合法性已经荡然无存。
当时，全球所有的西方国家对中共是一致地制裁，一致地抵制，一致地要求中共这个邪党结束他们的一党专制。美国在这里边应当是首当其冲，是维护世界和平最主要的国家，也是率领着西方一起制裁中国的最主要的国家。 老布什作为时任美国总统，在制裁中国的同时应当是率领全球国家对中共在六四造成血腥屠杀的这件事要给予中共严厉的制裁，同时（对）中共这样的法西斯政权应当让它了结，让它结束。
而老布什总统怎么做的呢？一边他表面上率领全球的国家对中共进行制裁，一边背后偷偷地派人到北京来跟邓小平勾兑。1989年的6月底，他就派出了美国国家安全顾问到达了北京。在1989年年底，他又派这个顾问再来了一次。这个特使到北京来的两次都要来干什么呢？都是一个目的，要告诉北京：“这件事会过去的，会风平浪静的。暂时可能对你们会有制裁，但是我们是要跟你们中国友好的。” 老布什表面一套，背后一套。他违背了所有美国的政治价值观。他违背了美国的道德人权观。在这件事上，作为老布什在六四后对中共的所有处理，老布什是犯下了滔天罪行的！
老布什自认他是一个中国通。老布什这个人跟中国打交道的年代很多。在尼克松总统70年代跟中共开始接触以后，当时北京和华盛顿还没有建立外交关系。然后，尼克松总统就任命老布什担任“北京办事处主任”，也就是代表美国驻北京办事处主任，实际上就叫“临时大使”。老布什在他担任这个北京办事处主任的过程中，他接触了中共大量的高层人物。这是从中国70年代初一直到中美建交的1979年，也就是老布什在这一段都在北京工作的时间，他和中共的很多高层人员结下了私人友谊。
这个“私人友谊”已经蒙住了老布什的心。
老布什后来接任美国总统之后，在八九六四屠杀这么严重的，残酷的，在人类历史上最大的犯罪事实发生在面前的时候，他仍然在袒护中共。他袒护中国共产党。他希望把中共从深潭里面拉出来。所以，他一边表面上带着各个国家对中共进行制裁，一边偷偷地到北京不断地跟中共勾兑，告诉北京他会让这个风浪逐步过去。他要跟中国保持友谊。他要让中共重新获得跟美国经济贸易和政治交往的机会。他希望把中共从深潭中完全拉出来。这就是老布什的倒行逆施。
所以老布什这次去世以后，我没有对老布什做过任何正面的评价。因为我觉得，在美国历史上，美国总统中，像老布什这么无耻，这么助长共产主义，这样帮助中国共产党的美国总统，是完全丧失了美国的人权价值观的，是完全背离了世界文明的。正是因为老布什对中共一再的拉扯，让中共从死亡中又缓了过来。
所以在这个背景下，詹姆斯·贝克先生作为老布什的特使，作为老布什的国务卿，在1991年开始了他对中国一次正式的破冰访华。 这次访华活动是在1991年的11月份。当时贝克先生到北京来是带有三件大事要落实的。
第一件事，就是关于中美的经贸问题，也就是中国和美国能否恢复经济贸易关系，能否解除对中国的制裁，让中国和美国重新开始做生意。这是第一件大事。
第二件大事是落实当时中共当朝的总书记江泽民是否能够顺利访美的问题。因为那时候中美关系完全是恶化的，是制裁的。江泽民访美一点可能性都没有。但是江泽民他希望能够通过跟美国的交好，能获得一次正式访美的机会。这是指贝克先生要落实的第二件大事。
第三件大事，也就是叫人权。也就是在全球对中国进行制裁的过程中，主要是对中国人权制裁的过程中，贝克先生所带来的使命就是希望中共能释放他名单上所有的政治犯。这个政治犯名单上有很多人，我建民只是其中一人。所以，贝克先生到了北京以后，跟钱其琛的交谈就是为了完成他这三件大事的。
那么最终的结果是什么？最终的结果就是顺利地促成了中美经济的恢复，对中国制裁的解除。“江泽民访美”放在了他们谈判的议程（上）。唯独是政治犯一个也没放，尤其是里面提到我名字的这个“吴建民”需要释放的问题。中共主谈的国务院副总理兼外交部长钱其琛用外交部新闻司司长，那个和我同名同姓的吴建民去张冠李戴，移花接木了。也就是说，这件历史事情就过去了。
而我本人当时正在江苏省的龙潭监狱里边服刑。我完全不知道华盛顿和北京有过这样一次谈判。我更不知道詹姆斯·贝克先生在中南海会谈中会提到了我的名字。所以当时这个事情的发生，作为我本人来讲，我是完全不清楚的。只是在我看了钱其琛这本书以后，给我形成了一个回忆。
也就是1991年11月底的时候，反正在那个冬天，具体的时间我已经记得不是很清楚。当时，我监狱里面来了几个自称“有关部门”的人。这几个人当时来找我做了一次认真的谈话，也就是希望我能够向政府认罪，能够明确地改变自己的“反动立场”，能够对自己的罪行有一个深刻的认识，并且写出书面的认罪说明，然后我有机会获得释放，甚至能有机会获得到海外去“治病”的机会。
当时，我对到访的这几位官员的来意不是十分明白。所以当他们最后讲到“你如果是执迷不悟，布什救不了你！贝克也救不了你！” 但他们讲这些话的时候，我就感到非常诧异：“布什是谁啊？这是美国总统啊。美国总统凭啥来救我啊？美国总统会知道我吗？怎么可能来救我呢？！” 所以说这件事情我没有往心里边去。因为我从来就没有想到过，美国总统派他的国务卿到中国来的时候，居然营救的名单里边有我建民的名字！
这件往事我当时根本没往心里去，就让它过去了。直到我看到钱其琛这本书以后，我才想起了当年有这么回事。
我在2016年发表了这篇文章之后，有很多朋友跟我来信来电，都问我现在要不要找到当年的几位当事人，因为当年的几位当事人都健在。我就说：“我非常希望能够找到他们。”
中国的两位当事人，就是国务院的副总理钱其琛还有外交部新闻司司长吴建民，他们当时都已经退休了。找到他们其实不难，问题是我去找他们，或者我通过朋友找他们，他们会置之不理的。唯独我就希望能在美国找到仍然健在的詹姆斯·贝克先生。
事情非常非常地巧。也就是在我了解了这个真相之后，我在不断地寻找贝克先生的这个过程中，发生了这个原外交部新闻司司长吴建民（和我同名同姓），这个外交部的吴大使，他居然在2016年有一次赴武汉的讲学中，因为车祸突然死亡了！这件事一下子就给我这件事增加了复杂性。本来他是在几个当事人里边最年轻的，最有可能能够还原这个历史的。可惜他在2016年8月份在赴武汉讲学的过程中，因为一场车祸他突然死掉了。
这个和我同名同姓的大使，他跟我本人是有几分渊源的。他也是南京人，我也是南京人。而且他跟我是校友：他也是从南京市第二中学毕业的。我也是从南京市第二中学毕业的。所以说我们在一个学校里边（学习），是校友。当然了，他比我年龄大得多，他比我要大30岁左右。他老早就从我们这个学校毕业，考入了北京外交学院。早就成为国家重要的官员，而且出任过多国的大使，并且担任过北京外交学院的院长。后来就发生了在2016年，他赴武汉的讲学中，在一次车祸中突然死亡。
他死亡以后，就意味着我们这件事里面的当事人少掉了一个。又过了几个月，就是到了2017年的4月份，原中共国务院的副总理，政治局委员兼外交部部长的钱其琛也死掉了。钱其琛一死，就变成了参加这个谈判里面的几个重要人物，还剩一个詹姆斯·贝克。而寻找詹姆斯·贝克就成了我建民的一个夙愿。 我一直通过多方面去寻找詹姆斯·贝克，但是我始终很难找到贝克先生，直到今年。
在今年，我的一个朋友帮我联络上了贝克先生的助理。当贝克先生看到这些历史书籍，直到这个当事人吴建民现在就在美国的时候，他非常地高兴。所以，按照我们约定的时间，在今年秋天，我和贝克先生在德克萨斯州的休斯顿，我们见了面。我们见面的那天，是在休斯顿的一所知名的大学。在这个大学里面的贝克学院，我和贝克先生有一个愉快的交谈。我们共进了午餐。
那一天，贝克先生解开了我心头所有的难解之谜。在我见到贝克先生以后，贝克先生非常高兴，捧着钱其琛的那本英文版的书告诉我，这本书他已经看了很多遍。他对当时的很多历史细节完全回忆起来。
贝克先生今年已经是88岁高龄。他的身体非常健康，耳清目明，口齿非常流利。他在阅读了这本书以后，他跟我讲，当时的细节他全部回忆出来了。他和我细致地回忆了老布什总统当时是怎么交待他的；他到中国去跟钱其琛是怎么谈的；钱其琛当时又是怎么回答他的；他本人对这件事当时是个什么判断。我最大的疑点就是问他：“当钱其琛跟你讲，吴建民是我们新闻司的司长。你把政治犯的名单搞错了。那时候，你是怎么判断钱其琛跟你说的这番话的？”
贝克先生告诉我：“我一看对方就是在演戏。我马上就判断出：绝对不是这个吴建民。因为同名同姓的人很多，更何况我所有的名单都是美国国务院按照FBI专门给我们上报的。所有人员都有他的背景资料和他本人的真实姓名，他的履历以及他现在被羁押的状况，我们是全部掌握的。怎么可能是这个外交部新闻司的司长呢？！ 因为我们要的是一个学生领袖。（这个）学生只有二三十岁，而这个新闻司司长当时已经快满六十岁，所以我一眼就看出对方是讲谎话。只是我不可能当场拆穿他，因为总统给我布置了更重要的外交任务要做。所以说我觉得我跟中方的谈判才刚刚开始，我们以后谈判的机会还会非常多，而且我们给中方提交的人权名单上需要释放的政治犯非常非常多，我们会逐步逐批地，一一地要求他们尽快地释放这些人。”
和贝克先生的这次见面，它解开了我心中很多疑团，也完成了我的一个历史夙愿：也就是在贝克先生的有生之年，我还有机会能够拜访到他，我还能让他回忆起当年这个历史往事，可以见证到这一段历史。随着时光的漂移，很多历史事件我们是需要这个历史里面的当事人能够对历史的各种细节，对当年的那些历史环节能给予准确的回忆，能完整地记录这段历史。
虽然我建民只是中国民主运动六四学运中的一个见证者，但是发生在我身上的，作为一个政治犯发生的各种往事，尤其涉及到美国国务院国务卿能够访华，专门跟中共外交部部长，专门要求政治犯的这件往事，我通过寻访贝克先生把这件事已经完整地记录了下来。我也希望，所有跟六四有关的各种历史故事，历史人物，都能通过自己不同的方法，能够寻找历史的遗迹，能够还原各种历史真相，能够把所有的历史纪录都真实地记录下来，让我们的后代永远地记住这段历史。
六四虽然已经过去了将近30年，血债仍然血未偿，因为邓小平李鹏这一批刽子手他们还没有得到人民正义的清算，而当年六四的国务院新闻发言人袁木已经被他逃脱了在活着的时候受到正义的审判。但是，历史的大门不会关上。所有对人民犯下血债的这些人最终都会得到历史的清偿！我相信，无论是邓小平，李鹏，陈云，江泽民，包括袁木这些在六四中沾满人民鲜血的这些历史人物，他们最终都会走向审判台，最终都会得到人民对他们正义的审判。
关于贝克先生的故事我今天就跟大家说到这里。因为这一次我跟贝克先生的见面，就奠定了我跟贝克先生今后有往来的友谊。所以，我还会在合适的时候再次去拜访贝克先生，和贝克先生共话历史，共图未来。
我期待着中国早一天实现民主自由，像贝克先生这样还健在的，对中国民主历史发展过程中的见证人，能够回到北京，能够亲眼看到自由，民主，文明和给中国14亿人民带来有尊严的生活。
今天的节目就跟大家做到这里。谢谢大家！
A Delayed Meeting — A Tale of Former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker and Two Wu Jianmin’s
Hello everyone!
Today is December 28, 2018. I am here to turn in my homework in history. In today’s program, I would like to talk about the former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker.
For those who have been following my program for a long time all know that I had been searching for the former U.S. Secretary, Mr. James Baker. Today, I am delighted to share with you that I have found him.
On a very special day this past fall, I had met with Mr. Baker. After this cordial meeting, I had been meaning to do a special about it, but I have been so busy since then. There is the Sino-US trade war, and later on the scandal of Huawei and the arrest of Meng Wenzhou. Every day there has been massive coverage of these events from all the channels of current politics. Therefore, I had not found time to share with you my meeting with Mr. Baker. Now that the end of the year is drawing near, I simply cannot drag it on any longer. With today being December 28, this year is coming to an end. I want to dedicate today’s program to recounting of that meeting before the year comes to an end.
So, what is the story between James Baker and Jianmin? Some of you have a good understanding of it after having watched my program for an extended period of time. Some of the more recent friends may not have any idea. With today’s program, I will let you know all about the connection between Mr. James Baker and me.
It all started in 2016. One day in 2016, a friend of mine who had moved to HongKong many years ago, sent me a message, asking me to go watch a video of Li Ao. I had never thought highly of Li Ao because of his pro-communist stance. In the second half of his life, Li Ao completely threw himself into the arms of the Communist Party whom he spent every single day singing for, especially when he publicly voiced his shameless opinions against all the patriotic students during June 4. He was just a scummy writer from Taiwan who defended Deng Xiaoping for the barbarian slaughtering policy by his party. I never watched his programs. Yet my friend told me, “This one you have to watch, especially at the 7’4” of the video.” I asked “What on earth is this program?” It turned out that Li Ao talked about the June 4 Massacre citing a memoir called <Ten Episodes of China’s Diplomacy> written by the former Chinese Vice Premier and the Foreign Minister Qian Qichen.
When Li Ao talked about this memoir by Qian Qichen, he not only introduced it to all the readers, but also talked about his personal judgement of June 4. A little historical episode mentioned in this book was captured by my friend, because it mentioned my name, Wu Jianmin, as a historical figure in it. Per Qian Qichen’s memoir, Wu Jianmin refers to the one who was the Director of the Information Department and the former ambassador to France. My friend saw through Qian’s words as a lie, because he is aware that the historical figure “Wu Jianmin” the book truly refers to should be me. So he urged me to go watch the program to clarify the facts. That is how I managed to watch Li Ao’s program.
Li Ao made it quite clear in his program that the then U.S. Secretary of State James Baker was sent by U.S. President Bush Sr. and came to China to initiate diplomatic negotiations with the Chinese Communist Party. He was received by Qian QiChen, the Vice Premier and the Foreign Minister. During the meeting, when Mr. Baker mentioned Human Rights, he took out a list of political prisoners under prolonged imprisonment by the Chinese Communist Party. Among the list was my name: Wu Jianmin.
Qian Qichen did a sneaky swapping trick with the Wu Jianmin who was his Director of the Information Department of the Foreign Ministry and the former ambassador to France. Qian told Mr. Baker, “You’re mistaken! You’ve got the wrong name! The ‘Wu Jianmin’ you talk about is not a young student, nor a students’ leader during June 4. He is not arrested or put in jail. The ‘Wu Jianmin’ you are thinking is our Director of the Information Department. You got the wrong person! It’s such a rookie mistake that the name of our Director of the Information Department made its way to your list of political prisoner. Are you serious?!” Therefore, a sneaky trick was done swapping two men with the same name.
In order to ease the embarrassment in the diplomatic negotiations, Mr. Baker said to Wu Jianmin the Director of the Information Department, “Wow, you’re out already?” According to Qian Qichen, the room roared with laughters.
After his retirement, this episode was recorded by Qian Qichen as diplomatic wisdom into his memoir <Ten Episodes of China’s Diplomacy>, which was published in 2003 and again in 2008 and 2010. It sold millions copies and is a book on diplomacy required to be studied by the state officials from all the administrative departments of the Chinese Communist Party. Just like its name, Qian records the top ten major events in his diplomatic career, and when talking about the Sino-U.S. interactions on June 4, I was mentioned as one of the episodes.
Of course, this whole thing was bragged as a witty crack in diplomacy, but what are the facts and history? After watching the video of Li Ao, I immediately found this memoir by Qian Qichen. In its Chinese version, on the pages of 190 and 191, Qian talks about this episodes in details. In other words, Mr. Baker provided a long list of political prisoners during his visit to China, asking the Chinese Communist Party to first release everyone on this list of political prisoners as a measure to improve its Human Rights status. My name was on top of this list, but was swapped with the Wu Jianmin the Director of the Information Department of the Foreign Ministry as a dirty trick play by Qian Qichen.
As everyone is aware of, “that” Wu Jianmin was in his 50s at the time, the Director of the Information Department. But the Nanjing students’ leader during June 4,1989 was only in his 20s. Swapping someone in his 20s with someone in his 50s, Qian thought Baker would not see through the stupid game. One has to wonder if Mr. Baker did or did not? Obviously, this had remained a mystery to me. Before I had a chance to meet with him, I had no way of knowing for sure if Mr. Baker was fooled by Qian Qichen and that Wu Jianmin.
Therefore, after reading the memoir and watching the video, I wrote and published an article at the Bowen News Agency in April 2016. In this article, I countered the lies made up by Qian Qichen, the former Foreign Minister of China. After my article was published, many friends started following this story and asking me about what really happened. As a matter of fact, Qian’s memoir and Li’s video did bring back some of my recollections of what happened.
As you know, during June 4 Massacre of 1989, it was George Bush Sr. who was the President of the United States. At this time, June 4 Massacre took place. Deng Xiaoping started the bloodshed by slaughtering the students. The Tiananmen Square Massacre shocked the world watching the tanks rolling over people. After this Massacre, any bit of legality of the Communist Party’s regime that had previously been lingering around was eradicated once and for all.
At the time, all the western world unanimously sanctioned China, unanimously resisted China and unanimously demanded the Communist Party to end the one-party dictatorship. The United States was the at the frontline of this wave of sanctions, leading other countries guarding world peace. Bush Sr., as the then U.S. President, he should have led the world imposing harsh sanctions against the Chinese Communist Party for its atrocities committed in the bloody killings during June 4 Massacre, and called for the ending of the fascist regime.
Yet what did Bush do? On the one hand, he led the global sanctions against China superficially. On the other hand, he tried reaching deals with Deng Xiaoping behind the scene by secretly sending his envoy to China. At the end of June 1989, he sent his National Security Advisor to Beijing. At the end of 1989, the Advisor came again. What did the Advisor want to accomplish from both trips?…… only one thing, which was to assure Beijing that “Everything will pass and peace will return. We might impose temporary sanctions against you, but in the end we want to be on your good side.” By blowing from both sides of his mouth, Bush not only betrayed the political values of the United States, but also betrayed moral values of America. The way President Bush responded to the Massacre along with all his handlings afterwards, are condemnable crimes against Chinese people!
President Bush considered himself an expert of China. Indeed, he spent a good many years dealing with China during his political career. When President Nixon started contacts with the Chinese Communist Party in early 1970s, there was no diplomatic relationship between Beijing and Washington. Soon afterwards, George Bush was appointed as the head of the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing, or the de facto Ambassador. During the years of assuming his role as the head of the Liaison Office, George Bush was able to get to know a lot of top leaders in the hierarchy of the Chinese Communist Party. From the early 70s till 1979 when U.S. established diplomatic relationship with China, which George Bush worked all the way through during those years, he managed to build solid personal friendship with many Chinese leaders, and such personal relationship hindered his better judgement down the road.
After he became the President of the U.S., having seen such inhumane and atrocious massacre in human history took place on June 4, 1989, George Bush still shielded the Chinese Communist Party from being condemned. He hoped to pull China out of the quagmire, so while he launched a superficial sanction leading all the countries, he cut a deal in the backstage with the Chinese Communist Party by telling them the storm would be over and he intended on keeping up the “friendship” with China. He wanted to let China regain its opportunity and maintain the transactions with U.S. in terms of economics, trade and politics. He hoped to pull China out of swamp, which counted for his unforgivable assistance to an evil regime.
This is why when George Bush passed away not so long ago, I barely had anything positive to say about him. It is because I think as a U.S. President, to shamelessly foster communism by helping the Chinese Communist Party, is completely against the Human Rights values of America and a total betrayal of the world civilization. It was because of Bush’s continuous efforts that the Chinese Communist Party was able to recover from the verge of death.
Under the circumstances as such, Mr. James Baker came to China with an ice-breaking mission as the envoy and the Secretary of State sent by President Bush. His visit took place in November of 1991. Mr. Baker came to China with three major tasks.
First of all, the Sino-US economic-trade relationship, or if China and U.S. were able to re-establish their economic and trade relations, if the sanctions against China could be lifted and enable the two countries to do business again. This was on the top of the agenda.
Second of all was to determine if the Chinese Party Secretary Jiang Zemin could successfully visit U.S. At the time, the Sino-US relationship deteriorated due to the sanctions. There was hardly any possibility for him to visit the U.S. However, Jiang Zemin was really hopeful he could have an opportunity to visit the U.S. through warm gestures and flirts with the U.S. This was the second priority of Mr. Baker’s visit.
Third of all was the Human Rights issue. During the global sanctions against China, mainly targeting against China’s Human Rights status, Mr. Baker’s mission was that he hoped China could release all the political prisoners on his list. There were many people on that list, and I was one of them. Hence, after his arrival in China, Mr. Baker tried to accomplish these three missions through talks with Qian Qichen.
What was the final result of the talks? The final result was that the Sino-US economic relationship was smoothly restored and the sanctions against China successfully lifted. Jiang’s visit to the U.S. was also on their agenda. The only thing that was total failure was the release of the political prisoners, especially the release of Wu Jianmin, when my name was mentioned. The whole issue passed over just like a rain storm with the swapping of me with the Director of the Information Department, a sleazy game rigged by Qian Qichen.
When all this happened, I was serving my sentence in the Dragon Pond Prison in Jiangsu Province. I had no idea of such negotiation between Washington and Beijing, much less of the fact that my name was mentioned by Mr. James Baker in his talks with ZhongNanhai. Personally, I had no knowledge of any of this. Only after reading Qian Qichen’s memoir, some of my memories started to make sense.
About the end of November in 1991, I may not recall the time accurately but it was winter time for sure. A few people claiming to be “from some department” came to the prison to visit me. They had a serious conversation with me, which was urging me to plead guilty to the government, change my reactionary stance, and have a deep review of my crimes which needs to be put in writing, then I could possibly be released, maybe even be sent overseas for medical treatment.
At the point, I was quite confused with the purpose of their visit. I was complete at a loss when they told me, “If you continue on your path of sins, no one could come to your rescue, not even President Bush! Not even Baker!” I thought to myself, “Who’s Bush? He’s the U.S. President! Why would he want to rescue me? How the heck could he know me? How is it possible he would rescue me???” I didn’t take it seriously at all. I had never imagined in my wildest dream that my name was indeed on the rescue list of the Secretary of State sent by the U.S. President!
I let the whole thing go without thinking any further, until I read Qian Qichen’s book and recalled all those words.
After my article was published in 2016, many people emailed me and called me, asking if I wanted to search for the few people directly involved in this whole thing, because they were all still alive. I said, “Of course I do, very much so.” The two Chinese involved, Vice Premier Qian Qichen and the Director of the Information Department Wu Jianmin, had both retired since. It would not be difficult to locate them, except if I were to try myself or do so through friends, they would have none of me.
My only hope was to search for Mr. James Baker.
An incident beyond belief happened at this time. After I found out what had happened (from the book and the video), I started my hard efforts of searching Mr. Baker. At this point, the Wu Jianmin who shared the same exact name with me, the Director of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the Ambassador, died in 2016 in a car accident on his way to Wuhan for a symposium, which added a sudden uncertainty to my quest of truth. He was actually the youngest amongst the three people directly involved in this, and who had the biggest potential to restore the truth of history. It was a shame he died so abruptly.
Actually, this Ambassador turned out to have quite a bit of connections with me. I am from Nanjing, so was he. In addition to this, we came from the same school. He graduated from the No. 2 Middle School of Nanjing, so did I. We studied and graduated from the same school. Of course, he was much older than me, about 30 years my senior. He graduated way ahead of me and was accepted by Beijing Diplomacy Institute. He had long since become a government representative and assumed the role of Ambassador of many countries, and the head of the Beijing Diplomacy Institute. Then he died in the car accident in 2016.
His death stroke one name off the responsible ones in my quest of truth. After a few months, in the April of 2017, Qian Qichen himself died. That means out of the few who participated in the (Sino-US diplomatic) negotiations, James Baker would be the only one still alive. The search for Mr. James Baker had become my wish of life. I had tried various resources and channels to find Mr. Baker, but the luck was not on my side, until this year.
This year, one of my friends finally was able to get in contact with Mr. Baker’s assistant. When Mr. Baker read the books about this part of history and found out that the Wu Jianmin he tried to rescue is now in the U.S., he was very excited. So our meeting was arranged and Mr. Baker and I met this fall in Houston, Texas. We met at Baker’s Institute in a well-known university in Houston. Mr. Baker and I had a wonderful talk and luncheon together.
On that day, many of the mysteries lingering in my mind for years were resolved. During our meeting, Mr. Baker showed me Qian Qichen’s book and told me delightfully that he had read it many times. He was totally able to recall many details of that historical event.
At 88 years old, Mr. Baker appears to be in excellent health for his age and talks with great wits and eloquence. He told me that after reading Qian’s memoir, a lot of details in his memory came back to him. He recalled in details what President Bush assigned him as tasks, how he went to China and carried talks with Qian Qichen, how his demands and requests were taken by Qian, and what his better judgements were as a result. My biggest question to him was, “When Qian told you that Wu Jianmin was the Director of the Information Department and you were mistaken about the list of the political prisoners, how much did you decide to believe his words?”
Mr. Baker told me, “I instantly realized it was a big act. I realized that it could not possibly be the right Wu Jianmin, not only because people could have the same names, but also all the lists were submitted to us by the State Department per the information gather from the FBI. We were fully aware of everyone’s background information including their names, resumes and experiences, as well as the status of their imprisonment. How could it be remotely possible that the one we were asking for was the Director of the Information Department?! What we asked for was a leader of the students, who was in his 20s or 30s. This Director of the Information Department was almost 60 years old! So I immediately knew they were lying. The only thing was that I could not quite come out to say so, because I had other more important tasks assigned by the President. I felt that the negotiations were just starting and more opportunities were down the road. Plus there were many many political prisoners on our list presented to the Chinese Communist Party. We wanted to ask for speedy release in batches and over time.”
The meeting with Mr. Baker answered many questions that had been bottled up for so many years, and needless to say, accomplished my wish in life, which was to meet with Mr. Baker during our lifetime, and able to recall and witness this historical event together. As time floats by, many historical events call for those of us involved to accurately recall as many details as possible in order to complete the record for the history.
Even though I am only one of the witnesses of the June 4 Students Movements for Chinese Democracy, but what happened to me as a political prisoner, especially when the U.S. Secretary of State asked for the release of the political prisoners during his visit to China, had been recorded by me to its totality. I hope that all the people involved in June 4 Massacre and would be able to follow the footprints of the history, verify the details of the historical events, search for the truth of history via different ways, restore all the truths of what happened, and mark them all, so that our children and their children can all remember this part of history.
It has been almost 30 years since the June 4 Massacre, the bloody debt has not been paid back. The executors like Deng Xiaoping and Li Peng have not paid for their crimes committed. Yuan Mu, the spokesman of Chinese State Department for June 4 had successfully gotten away with the trial by justice ( because he died). However, the door of history will not be shut! Everyone who owes debt in blood will be served with justice! I firmly believe that, be it Deng Xiaoping, Li Peng, Chen Yun, Jiang Zemin, or people like Yuan Mu, everyone whose hands are soaked with blood from people, will eventually all walk towards the doom and take the stand of trial served with justice by people.
So much for my story with Mr. Baker. My meeting with him hopefully laid the ground for a budding friendship. Therefore, I think that I would be visiting Mr. Baker at another appropriate time, talking about history and future.
I expect that democracy and freedom will soon be reality in China, so that people who are part of the history, people who are like Mr. Baker, can live to see that freedom, democracy and civilization give the dignity to the 1.4 billion people in China, just what they deserve as everyone else does.
So much for today’s program. Thanks for watching!