Did Qian Xuesen take the initiative to return to China, or did he return only after he could no longer stay in the United States?

When Qian Xuesen’s request to return to China was unreasonably blocked by the United States, China also detained a group of Americans. Among them were American expatriates who violated Chinese laws and were detained by the Chinese government in accordance with the law, and some who violated Chinese airspace and were detained by the Chinese government. of U.S. military personnel. At that time, the United States pursued a policy of hostility to China and often sent spies to China to carry out subversive and sabotage activities. On November 23, 1954 alone, 13 American spies were sentenced by the Military Tribunal of the Supreme People's Court in accordance with the law. The U.S. government is eager to get back these Americans detained by our country, but it is unwilling to have direct contact with China for fear of causing the recognition of the People's Republic of China as a fait accompli.

In April 1954, the United States, Britain, China, the Soviet Union and France held an international conference in Geneva to discuss and resolve the Korean issue and restore peace in Indochina. Zhou Enlai, the head of the Chinese delegation attending the meeting, thought that a group of Chinese students and scientists were detained in the United States, so he instructed that since the Americans asked British diplomats to clear relations with us, we should seize this opportunity and open up new Contact channels. During the negotiations, we must first contact the issue of the detention of Qian Xuesen, a Chinese scientist studying in the United States.

In order to seize the initiative, Zhou Enlai instructed the spokesperson of the Chinese delegation Huang Hua to make a statement, demanding that the United States return the detained Chinese nationals and students, implying that China was willing to negotiate directly with the United States on the issue of detaining American personnel. The U.S. government had no choice but to agree to direct negotiations with Chinese representatives.

With the approval of Zhou Enlai, Wang Bingnan, secretary-general of the Chinese delegation, was introduced by Du Weilian, a member of the U.S. delegation, and began preliminary discussions on June 5 with U.S. representative and Deputy Secretary of State Johnson on the issue of expatriates in the two countries. The United States submitted to China a list of American nationals in China and some American military personnel detained by China, and asked China to give them a chance to return home.

In order to show China's sincerity, Zhou Enlai instructed Wang Bingnan to make generous concessions at the third Sino-US meeting on June 15, and also asked the United States to stop detaining Qian Xuesen and other Chinese personnel studying in the United States.

However, China’s legitimate request was unreasonably rejected by the United States. On July 21, the Geneva Conference concluded. In order not to interrupt the communication channels, Zhou Enlai instructed Wang Bingnan to agree with the United States to hold consular-level talks in Geneva starting from July 22. In order to further show China's sincerity in the Sino-US talks, China released four detained American pilots.

On July 25, 1955, our Ministry of Foreign Affairs established a steering group for Sino-US talks, directly led by Zhou Enlai, with Zhang Hanfu as the leader and Qiao Guanhua as the deputy leader. On August 1, China-US talks were upgraded from consular level to ambassadorial level.

China’s high profile is ultimately to win over Qian Xuesen and other scientists studying in the United States to return to China as soon as possible. But on this key issue, the Americans cheated. Although China and the United States had contacted each other more than 10 times, U.S. Representative Johnson still refused to let go because China could not afford the real reason why Xuesen wanted to return to China.

Just when Premier Zhou Enlai was very anxious about this, Chen Shutong, then vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, received a letter from the other side of the ocean. After taking it apart, it was signed "Qian Xuesen". He couldn't help but feel shocked and quickly read the letter. The content of the letter turned out to be a request for the government of his motherland to help him return to the country.

This letter was given by Qian Xuesen to Vice Chairman Chen Shutong in a letter written on a small cigarette paper and sent to his relatives in Belgium when he escaped from spy surveillance. Regarding such an extraordinary letter from overseas, Chen Shutong was well aware of its weight and sent it to Premier Zhou on the same day. "This is really great. This can completely refute the lies of the US government!" Premier Zhou Enlai immediately made careful arrangements and asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to quickly forward the letter to Wang Bingnan, who was holding Sino-US ambassadorial talks in Geneva, and gave Wang Bingnan instructions: : "This letter is very valuable. It is ironclad evidence that the US authorities are still preventing Chinese civilians from returning to the country. You must use this letter to expose their lies during negotiations."

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Wang Bingnan followed Zhou Enlai's instructions and took the lead in saying to Johnson at the beginning of the Sino-US ambassadorial-level talks on August 1: "Mr. Ambassador, before we start our discussion, I have been ordered to inform you of the following news: On July 31, the Chinese government decided to release 11 American pilots including Anovi early in accordance with China's legal procedures. They left Beijing on July 31 and are expected to arrive in Hong Kong on August 4. I hope that this measure taken by the Chinese government will have a positive impact on our talks. But when it came to the issue of Qian Xuesen's return to the country, Johnson repeated his old tune: "There is no evidence that Qian Xuesen is going to return to the country, and the US government cannot force him to do so!" So Wang Bingnan showed Qian Xuesen's letter to Chen Shutong and refuted it confidently: "Since the U.S. government issued an announcement as early as April 1955, allowing scholars studying in the United States to come and go freely, why did the Chinese scientist Dr. Qian Xuesen in June What about writing to the Chinese government asking for help? Apparently, Chinese scholars are still being blocked in their requests to return home. "Johnson was speechless in the face of the facts. The U.S. government had to approve Qian Xuesen's request to return to the country. On August 4, 1955, Qian Xuesen received a notice from the U.S. Immigration Service allowing him to return to the country.