Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

"Yes, that's right. Whether it's traditional Chinese medicine or Western medicine, we'll use whichever is effective in treating the disease. We need to come up with a plan as soon as possible. Developing rural medical care is urgent."

929 Geneva Conference Delegation

After talking with the Chairman, the Ministry of Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Health held a meeting to discuss the next steps.

The Ministry of Health was managed by the First Office of the State Council, which was spun off from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and was also under the charge of Nie Shi. However, everyone was too busy to participate in the specific planning process. Nie Shi was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and had a heavy workload, so he didn't even show up. Zhao Zhensheng, Director of the First Office, attended the meeting. The discussion primarily involved Wei Hongjun, Deng Zhihui, and Zhao Zhensheng. The final decision was that Lai Ruoyu, Deputy Minister of Rural Affairs, and Sui Xiaochao, Deputy Minister of Health, were familiar with this area of ​​work, having implemented it in Shanxi and the former Chahar region. Therefore, they were assigned the responsibility of developing a plan as soon as possible.

The main task is to compile a textbook suitable for training grassroots doctors and establish a training institution. Then, we also need to consider where these grassroots doctors will be affiliated with if they go to the countryside, and how their salaries will be distributed.

Is it managed by the Ministry of Health, or delegated to local health departments, or directly affiliated with cooperatives?

All of these require a thorough plan. You can't just do it on a whim.

Wei Hongjun's suggestion is that the initial rollout shouldn't be too large, but rather should be conducted on a smaller scale. This is because the primary care physician program being implemented now differs somewhat from the one previously implemented in Shanxi. Therefore, Wei Hongjun suggests that a pilot program could be conducted in a few provinces, with a few counties in each province. After implementation, the effectiveness can be assessed to determine if any issues remain.

Given the current accumulation of rural areas in China, it is still difficult to fully promote this approach. We can first accumulate more experience and then gradually expand the program. This will be especially convenient when there are more high school graduates, as they are the most suitable demographic.

Wei Hongjun strongly supports high school students becoming basic doctors in rural areas.

After the founding of New China, great importance was attached to education.

By 1953, within six years of the founding of the People's Republic of China, 7000 new high schools had been built nationwide, with even more middle schools and elementary schools. This rapid educational development was precisely to support industrialization. The industrial sector believed it lacked skilled workers and needed a large number of educated workers. Consequently, the education sector vigorously developed education to provide industry with a sufficient number of educated workers.

But serious problems have arisen in history.

A conflict arose between educational and industrial development, leading to the famous "Hanyang Incident." Education was expanding too rapidly, while industrial development wasn't creating enough jobs. To resolve this conflict, the education department decided to slow down educational development. High schools reduced enrollment, which displeased many junior high students about to enter high school. At the time, China was reeling from the shock of the Polish-Hungarian Incident, leading to widespread ideological confusion. The resulting "Hanyang Incident" was handled with extreme severity and had a profoundly negative impact.

The subsequent Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside Movement was also related to the lack of jobs in cities.

Since industry cannot meet the needs of so many jobs, we must create enough jobs for them. The demand for rural primary care doctors is several million, and the demand for primary care teachers is also several million.

A later generation "Three Rural Issues Expert" once said that China's rural areas are the pillar of social stability. Whenever there are unresolved conflicts, they will be transferred to the rural areas, allowing them to resolve them.

Although his views may not all be correct, this sentence is absolutely correct.

China's rural areas are vast and populous, so if many conflicts are dispersed, they won't be as serious as one might imagine. The students developed by the education sector can't be absorbed by the industrial sector, so the problem has to be handled by the grassroots.

One is digested by grassroots educational institutions, and the other is digested by grassroots medical institutions.

As long as rural areas develop steadily according to the current situation, there will be no problem for grassroots educational and medical institutions to absorb 10 to 20 million people in the next ten years, and they can even absorb more people.

Of course, Wei Hongjun did not raise these issues directly.

I only mentioned this briefly when discussing the future development of rural areas with Deng Zhihui and Li Shaocheng. Because Deng Zhihui and Li Shaocheng would undoubtedly continue to work alongside Wei Hongjun on rural affairs for a long time to come, they also needed to know some of Wei Hongjun's ideas.

After completing this work, it will be the day for the Prime Minister to lead the delegation to Geneva.

The Chairman convened an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau.

The Premier reported to the Politburo on the preparations for his trip to Geneva. In reality, none of the Politburo members were responsible for the Premier's diplomatic work. After all, foreign affairs were the Premier's personal responsibility, and Chen Shuai was the head of the department.

Politburo members don't express their opinions on foreign affairs. Even if they do have opinions on China's foreign policy, they won't directly dictate the specific work of the Premier and General Chen.

Instead, they would submit their own diplomatic views to the central government. This was a rule that everyone followed.

Therefore, the Prime Minister's report on preparations for the trip to Geneva was just a formality. After all, some matters still require the approval of the Politburo.

The Premier first reported the list of members of the delegation to Geneva. The Central Committee attached great importance to this conference and dispatched a strong delegation of over 100 people. Members included heads of diplomatic, economic, trade, cultural, commercial, and press agencies. Among them were Minister of Foreign Affairs Chen Shuai, Vice Foreign Minister and Soviet Ambassador Zhang Wenfu, Vice Foreign Ministers Wang Jiaxiang and Li Kenong, and Director of the General Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zhu Bingnan, who served as Secretary-General of the delegation.

Then there were Ye Jizhuang, Director of the Sixth Office of the State Council and Minister of Foreign Trade, and Jia Tuofu, Minister of Light Industry. Among the delegation's advisors were Lei Renmin, You Zhe, Qiao Guanhua, Huang Hua, Ke Boyan, Gong Peng, Lei Yingfu, Wu Lengxi, and Xiong Xianghui, as well as the delegation's secretaries and assistant secretaries.

Such a large list of personnel requires the approval of the Politburo.

Everyone in the meeting agreed to this list. No one would be crazy enough to raise any objections at this time.

After the Politburo approved the delegation list, the Premier reported on pre-departure preparations, stating, "Our delegation unanimously agrees that the primary purpose of our trip to Geneva is to address the issue of peace in Indochina (Indochina). Given this, we will advocate peace this time and unite as many friends as possible. We must quickly reach cooperation with our Southeast Asian friends and undermine the US 'Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty.'"

Ever since the United States wanted to establish the "Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty", the pressure on China has been tremendous.

After all, if the United States truly completes its desired "Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty," China's situation in Southeast Asia will be extremely difficult. This is because the United States and Southeast Asia will form an Asian version of NATO. Therefore, one of the main goals of this Geneva conference is to prevent the success of the US "Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty."

"The slogan of peace is very good. We need a peaceful environment at this stage, and Southeast Asian countries also need peace. Many Southeast Asian countries have just gained independence from colonization and, like us, need peace to carry out domestic economic development. Therefore, as long as we firmly grasp the slogan of peace, we can unite Southeast Asian countries. In Geneva, we want peace, while the United States does not want peace and wants to destroy peace. Then we can win over countries that want peace to isolate the United States and make the US's Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty a complete failure."

The Chairman supported the slogan raised by the Prime Minister.

This Politburo meeting, in addition to being a procedural one, is also to give instructions to the Politburo members on the next round of diplomatic negotiations.

Don't let the diplomatic negotiations yield results that leave Politburo members dissatisfied. Politburo members are already full-fledged Party and state leaders. Even the president must respect the opinions of Politburo members.

The Chairman continued, "The current world situation is gradually improving. Comrade Khrushchev first proposed easing international tensions and peaceful coexistence between countries with different systems last year, and this has also been our stance. Not long ago, British Foreign Secretary Eden expressed the same view, as did India's Nehru. They are both talking about easing international tensions. These are two major changes, very good changes. They show that there are still many countries in the world that support peace."

"This opportunity is extremely rare. We must seize it and use the slogan of peace to win over countries willing to engage in peace. We must divide and isolate US imperialism. During the negotiations, we must concede what should be conceded and insist on what should be insisted on. We must resolutely not yield on core issues and must persist. However, we can decisively make concessions on minor details to let the other side feel our sincerity. Only in this way can we thwart the US plan to unite Southeast Asian countries to contain my country.

"Only in a peaceful international environment can we better defend our country and our socialism."

The central government is very much looking forward to peace.

Because only when there is peace and China's international environment improves can China devote itself wholeheartedly to economic development. If the international environment is not peaceful, China will never be able to fully devote itself to socialist construction.

The Chairman is well aware of this.

After hearing the Chairman's support for the Geneva Conference's overall slogan, the Prime Minister continued his report: "At this Pak Ping Wa Conference, we formulated five objectives. The first objective is to restore peace in Indochina. Previously, France wanted to end the Vietnam War and completely leave Vietnam. Britain also allowed the independence of countries like Burma. Therefore, there is a high probability of restoring peace in Indochina."

"Second, extensive engagement with Southeast Asian countries. Establish a peace zone in Southeast Asia, and establish mutual assistance treaties or collective peace conventions with Southeast Asian countries. This will restore peace throughout Southeast Asia. However, this will likely be opposed by the United States."

"Third, we should ease relations with the UK and engage in deeper engagement with the UK to see if there is an opportunity to establish diplomatic relations with the UK. Even if diplomatic relations cannot be established, both sides should promote economic cooperation."

"Fourth, restoring peace in Indochina requires the cooperation of France. We should use this opportunity to improve relations with France and avoid any major conflicts with France over the Indochina issue. We should strive to establish diplomatic relations with France. We should invite some prominent French leaders to visit China, promote people-to-people exchanges between China and France, and strengthen relations between the two countries."

"Fifth, peace in Indochina is only the first step. Further negotiations will be conducted between our country and the major Indochinese countries. Our delegation recommends concluding peace talks with Myanmar as soon as possible to set an example for other Indochinese countries. Beyond this issue, Southeast Asian countries are currently primarily concerned about the issue of overseas Chinese. Resolving the nationality issue for these overseas Chinese is a primary concern for these countries."

China and Southeast Asian countries have conflicting attitudes towards the issue of overseas Chinese. China does not want to sever ties with overseas Chinese.

But what Southeast Asian countries fear most is that overseas Chinese are becoming one with China. Therefore, if China wants to establish good relations with Southeast Asian countries, the nationality issue of overseas Chinese must be resolved. If this issue remains unresolved, Southeast Asian countries will remain uneasy.

Overseas Chinese currently control the economic lifeline of Southeast Asian countries, which have just gained independence. They face both ethnic and economic conflicts. However, they do not want to drive out overseas Chinese, which would impact their economies. Therefore, they want them to stay, but they also need to determine their nationality.

In previous negotiations with Southeast Asian countries, the Premier assured them that China would never manipulate overseas Chinese to interfere in their internal affairs. However, these Southeast Asian countries simply refused to believe this. The United States is now promoting the "Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty," using the argument that China would exploit overseas Chinese to spread revolution in Southeast Asia. The US-led "Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty" is precisely intended to prevent China from exporting revolution to Southeast Asia.

This statement from the United States has made many Southeast Asian countries hesitant.

Also very scared.

Although they have little interest in the US's "Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty" because no one wants to become the US's pawns in the event of a military conflict between China and the US, they do believe in the US's statement.

Look at how North Vietnam swiftly annihilated the French army, and how the remnants of the Nationalist army routed the Burmese army, and you'll understand China's true intentions. If China were to use overseas Chinese to export revolution, none of their countries would be stable.

scared.

The United States is exploiting this mentality in Southeast Asia, hoping to establish a new version of NATO there. By signing the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, the United States can firmly contain China, making everyone around China an enemy and preventing China from developing properly.

If China wants to break the US blockade, it must not allow the US conspiracy to succeed. It must compete with the US for the support of Southeast Asian countries, so it must quickly reach an agreement with Southeast Asian countries on the issue of overseas Chinese. That is, the nationality issue of overseas Chinese must be resolved as soon as possible.

"What is the opinion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?"

"Our idea is freedom of choice. Overseas Chinese can freely choose their nationality. This will help resolve our previous differences with Southeast Asian countries and sign mutual assistance and cooperation agreements, or peace agreements, with them as soon as possible."

The Prime Minister replied.

This is the overall thinking of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at present.

There are 10 million overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia. Given the current situation in Southeast Asian countries, if the overseas Chinese issue is not resolved quickly, conflicts within these countries will continue to accumulate. If something were to happen, China would be unable to control the affairs of other countries, with the exception of a few in Indochina.

So what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs means is to allow overseas Chinese to choose their nationality.

Regardless of their choice, the nationality issue for overseas Chinese can be quickly resolved. This approach is actually quite hurtful. Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia are already pro-Taiwan, and allowing them to choose their own nationality will further distance them from the new China.

But this is the fastest way to stabilize peace around China.

Everyone knows what is important and what is not.

Soon the Politburo approved the Premier's proposal, allowing overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia to freely choose their nationality. On February 1954, 2, the Premier flew to Baipingwa with a large delegation. The Geneva Conference was the first time that New China publicly appeared at such a world conference.

930 Active British Businessmen

The Prime Minister went to Geneva with a large delegation, and the Chairman and the Secretariat immediately became busy.

Because telegrams between the Central Committee and the Premier arrived almost every one or two hours. After arriving in Geneva, the Chinese delegation had to deal not only with the four major powers of Britain, the United States, France, and the Soviet Union, but also with Southeast Asian countries and other United Nations forces that had participated in the Korean War.

The Prime Minister led a team, and Foreign Minister Chen Shuai led a team to negotiate with these countries in turn.

The main topics of this Geneva conference are two-fold.

One is peace on the Korean Peninsula, and the other is peace in Indochina. These are the themes of the conference.

But the negotiations were not going so smoothly.

This involved not only conflicts between China and other countries, but also conflicts within the socialist camp. For example, during discussions about peace in Indochina, North Vietnam suddenly proposed a joint solution to the Indochina issue. Since North Vietnam had taken the initiative on the battlefield, their confidence had surged. Furthermore, they understood that France could no longer fight.

France is now eager to extricate itself from Indochina.

Suddenly, North Vietnam became dissatisfied with the terms originally agreed upon with the Soviet Union and China. The terms agreed upon between North Vietnam and China were for a demarcation of the border between North and South Vietnam, with support for the independence of Laos and Cambodia, which had been fighting alongside North Vietnam against France. However, during the negotiations, North Vietnam suddenly proposed the formation of a unified Indochina Federation, incorporating Laos and Cambodia into it.

Anglo-American law is of course opposed.

North Vietnam represented the socialist camp in Indochina. If North Vietnam were allowed to establish an Indochina Federation, it would threaten Burma and Thailand to the west and Malaysia to the south. Furthermore, the presence of such a powerful socialist state in Indochina would affect the overall interests of Britain, the United States, and France in Southeast Asia. In that event, the entire Indochina Peninsula might be threatened by socialism.

Therefore, Anglo-American law does not sign.

North Vietnam's sudden change of attitude embarrassed both China and the Soviet Union. They had originally agreed on a deal, but now, with a surprise attack, both China and the Soviet Union were embarrassed. Laos and Cambodia were also unhappy. They had originally joined North Vietnam in the war against France to free themselves from French colonial rule. Now, with North Vietnam wanting to establish an Indochina Federation, what was their role?

As a result, the negotiations immediately reached a deadlock.

The Prime Minister could only maneuver and work with the Soviet Union to persuade North Vietnam. The most important thing now was to resolve peace in Indochina. The Prime Minister told North Vietnam that if no peace agreement could be reached at the Nhữa Nhữa Conference, France would be unable to withdraw from Vietnam. Then, Britain and the United States might even send troops into Vietnam, making peace in Vietnam a distant prospect.

Under the Prime Minister's mediation and the Soviet Union's tough stance, North Vietnam finally gave in and stopped advocating the establishment of an Indochina Federation. With North Vietnam's concessions, the peace issue in Indochina became much easier to resolve.

Of course, while promoting peace in Indochina, there is no solution to the problem of the Korean Peninsula.

Because no one would give in.

The conditions proposed by North Korea and China were that all foreign troops withdraw from the Korean Peninsula and then allow the Korean Peninsula to hold its own democratic general elections. However, South Korea disagreed and proposed that Chinese troops withdraw first, and that the UN forces supervise the general elections on the Korean Peninsula.

The proposals from both sides are too far apart.

As a result, there was no progress on the issue of the Korean Peninsula except for verbal attacks.

However, apart from these issues, the Sino-British and Sino-French negotiations went very smoothly. Although Attlee was a Labour Party member and the Conservative Party is now in power, Attlee's visit to China was of extraordinary political significance.

After returning, Attlee conveyed China's attitude and the Chairman's words to the British government. The British government understood that China was trying to make peace with Britain. Britain was also worried about not being able to further strengthen its relationship with China.

Therefore, during the Geneva Conference, the representatives of the two countries were very harmonious.

Although the two countries exchanged sharp words during the formal negotiations, representatives from both countries met frequently outside the conference hall. First, British and Chinese diplomats met privately from time to time to discuss seemingly insignificant topics, but soon the two sides decided that Chen Shuai and Aiden would meet.

The two discussed a wide range of topics, without any substantive issues. However, the US still sensed something unsavory.

The US privately warned Eden against excessive contact with China. Unfortunately, Eden ignored the US warning. Instead, the Prime Minister and Eden met privately shortly thereafter. The two sides quickly developed a close relationship, and it was decided that the Prime Minister and Eden would hold formal off-site negotiations.