按：1971年7月22日英国国会议员、自由党领袖Jeremy Thorpe用中文撰写致周恩来的亲笔信，表示希望能获许访问中国并对周恩来做一番电视访问。他说希望能问周一些个人问题，“由此各国的人民可以对于现今世界最大的国家的领袖之一得到更进一步的了解”。
周恩来虽然是代表中共在外交场合出头露面的最主要人物，但周大事小情都要报给毛泽东批准才敢行动。而这位Thorpe议员说电视访问可以让世界人民更好地认识中国领袖之一周恩来，显然会让毛泽东不爽。
根据英国外交部档案，Thorpe的信通过英国的外交邮袋于7月28日送至英国驻北京代办处，8月2日代办处把该信交给中共国外交部礼宾司，希望他们能给转给周恩来。此前，Thorpe已经把信的副本送给中共国驻英国临时代办裴坚章，以确保周恩来能看到这封信。
没查到材料表明Thorpe后来见到了周恩来。
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: The Rt．Hon. Jeremy Thorpe, M.P.
HOUSE OF COMMONS
LONDON, SWi
中华人民共和国国务院
周总理：
我是非常盼望西方的国家和中华人民共和国达到更深的了解，所以我冒昧的给您写这封信。
我先自己介绍一下，我是一个英国国会议员，同时也是英国自由党的领袖。以前我曾作过中英友谊促进会的执委。1959年我被选入国会，在被选以前，我的工作是律师，曾在世界各国作过十年的电视访问记者。我个人从六岁起就对于收集中国陶磁很感兴趣。
我一生最大憾事之—就是还没有机会到中国去一次，我希望能达到这个愿望。简而言之，我写这封信的动机是请问总理可否允许我在最近三个月之内能到中华人民共和国拜访一次。并且希望总理给我一个机会和您举行—次谈话。如果可以把我们的谈话作成电视节目广播，那是最理想的事。我所要谈的各种问题，当然会预先告知您，并且得到您的许可。这种形式的谈话—定能引起全世界极大的注意和兴趣，我想这个节目至少可在英国，西欧各国，澳洲，加拿大，美国以及远东等各地收听，除了请您发表关于中国对世界各国的意见，我也希望能够问您一两个关于总理个人的问题，由此各国的人民可以对于现今世界最大的国家的领袖之一得到更进一步的了解。这些问题当然也是要得到您的许可的。
我希望您也同意利用这个机会把中国惊人的成就公布于全世界的人们，而且说明中国对于全世界的局面有何见解。
此致最崇高的敬意，
英国自由党主席
Jeremy Thorpe
1971年7月22日
再启：刚写完这封信，传来了美国总统访华的消息。我希望那件事能使我的请求更有意义。
又及
Premier Chou,
It is because I
am extremely hopeful that the West and the People's Republic of China will
reach deeper understanding that I am writing this letter to you.
Allow me first to
introduce myself. I am a British Member of
Parliament and the leader of the Liberal Party.
I was formerly a member of the Society for Promoting Anglo-Chinese Friendship. I entered Parliament in 1959. Before being elected I was a lawyer. I spent ten years as a television reporter
all over the world. From the age of six
I have had a great interest in collecting Chinese porcelain.
All my life my
greatest regret has been that I have still had no opportunity of visiting
China, I hope that I can achieve this ambition.
To sum up, my motive in writing is to ask you Mr Premier whether you can
permit me to visit China within the next three months. I also hope that you will give me the opportunity
of meeting you for a talk. If our talk
could be made part of a television programme it would be ideal. Of course I will submit all the questions I
would like to discuss with you for your prior approval. A talk in this form would certainly attract
the attention and interest of the world, and would be seen at least in Britain,
Western Europe, Australia, Canada, the United States and the Far East. Besides asking you to talk about China's
attitude to the rest of the world I also hope to ask you a few personal questions
about yourself. Through this the people
of other countries could gain further understanding of one of the leaders of
the world's largest nations. Naturally these questions would also require your
approval.
I hope that you
will agree to use this opportunity to publicise the Chinese people's
achievements to the people of the whole world and to declare China's views on
the world situation.
With highest
regards
J.T.
22 July 1971
P.S.
I had just
finished this letter when the news of President Nixon's visit to China
broke. I hope that this will make my
request even more pertinent.
出处：英国外交部档案FCO21/856
没有评论:
发表评论