Ji Chaozhu

Ji Chaozhu (July 30, 1929 – April 29, 2020) was a Chinese diplomat who held a number of important positions[1] in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China (PRC), most notably as English interpreter for Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai; later as Ambassador to the Court of St. James's (United Kingdom); and lastly as an Undersecretary General of the United Nations, a post from which he retired in 1996.[2] He played a central role in the talks leading up to and during President Richard M. Nixon's historic 1972 visit to China.

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Ji.
Ji Chaozhu
冀朝铸
Ji Chaozhu at Tiananmen Square in 2005
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations for Department for Development Support and Management Services
In office
1991–1996
Secretary-GeneralJavier Pérez de Cuéllar
Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Ambassador of China to the United Kingdom
In office
August 1987 – March 1991
Preceded byHu Dingyi
Succeeded byMa Yuzhen
Ambassador of China to Fiji
with accredition as Ambassador to Kiribati & Vanuatu
In office
September 1985 – May 1987
Preceded byShen Zhiwei
Succeeded byXu Mingyuan
Personal details
Born(1929-07-30)July 30, 1929
Taiyuan, Shanxi, China
DiedApril 29, 2020(2020-04-29) (aged 90)
Beijing, China
RelationsJi Gongquan (father)
Ji Chaoding (elder brother)
Chao-Li Chi (elder brother)
OccupationDiplomat, author
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese冀朝鑄
Simplified Chinese冀朝铸

His memoir, The Man on Mao's Right,[3] was published in July 2008, by Random House.

Early years in U.S.

Ji was born on July 30, 1929, in Shanxi Province to an affluent family who were also sympathetic to the Communist Party.[4] His father was a wealthy landlord, lawyer, and provincial official, while his eldest brother, Ji Chaoding, was a noted economist who earned a Ph.D. at Columbia University.[5] Ji and his family fled their home in Taiyuan, the provincial capital, in the late 1930s during the Second Sino-Japanese War.[4] At the urging of Zhou Enlai, a young revolutionary at the time, Ji's family emigrated to New York City in 1939, when Ji was nine years old.[6] He earned a high school diploma from Horace Mann-Lincoln High School (now known as Horace Mann School),[4] and attended Camp Rising Sun in 1944.[7] He was a sophomore at Harvard University in 1950 when the Korean War broke out, which saw his native homeland and his adopted country fight on opposite sides.[8] Ji described how he "was torn between [his] love for two countries", but knew that he "was fundamentally Chinese".[6]

Return to China

Ji left Harvard in the middle of his studies and returned to the newly formed People's Republic of China.[9] He studied chemistry at Tsinghua University in Beijing, with the goal of being a scientist and developing nuclear weapons for the PRC.[4][8] He was instead selected to be an interpreter and notetaker at the negotiations in Panmunjom that would eventually bring an end to the Korean War, due to his English-language skills.[4][6] After two years in Korea, he returned to Beijing where he was recruited to become Zhou's English interpreter, accompanying the Premier to the 1954 Geneva Conference, and on Zhou's many other international trips. For most of the next two decades, he was a close aide to Zhou, and a frequent interpreter for Mao, often appearing on Mao's right on the reviewing stand at Tiananmen Square during public celebrations when English-speaking dignitaries were present. He holds the distinction of having been interpreter for Mao Zedong's last two official visits with English-speaking dignitaries, in 1976, months before the chairman's death.[6]

Role in Sino-American relations

During his long career, Ji's first-hand knowledge of American culture made him a valuable member of the Chinese diplomatic corps. This was especially showcased during Henry Kissinger's secret visit to Beijing in 1971, which led to President Nixon's visit to China the following year. Zhou Enlai chose Ji to head the first diplomatic mission to the U.S. in 1973. Ji went on to establish the PRC's first liaison office in Washington, and was subsequently assigned to its embassy staff in the US after full diplomatic relations were established. He served as interpreter for Deng Xiaoping during his visit to the US in 1979. The New York Times observed how – from the time of Nixon's visit to China until Deng's visit to the US – Ji was the only person from either country capable of interpreting from English to Chinese. The newspaper consequently labelled him "The Indispensable Mr. Chi".[10] He was highly respected by US officials, so much so that in 1981, then-Secretary of State Alexander Haig specifically asked the PRC to send Ji to meet with Ronald Reagan in an attempt to defuse tensions between the two sides. This arose as a result of president's plans to sell sophisticated weapons to Taiwan. Ji met with every American president from Nixon to Clinton.[11][12]

Family and political life

In 1956, Ji married Wang Xiangtong,[6] an English translator working for the International Red Cross.[12] Both Ji and Wang experienced periodic political problems during the many purges and other upheavals that marked the Mao years. In spite of his close association with Zhou and Mao, Ji was considered suspect because he had been educated in the U.S., and an elder brother had stayed behind when Ji returned to China. Wang had a similar problem, as her father and mother had become separated at the end of the civil war when the Communists took control and the Nationalists fled to Taiwan. Her father and three brothers were stranded and could not return to the mainland, and her mother was in Beijing and could not leave. Ji was able to join the Chinese Communist Party in spite of his overseas connections, but Wang could not. They had two sons: Xiaotan lives in Beijing with his wife and a daughter, and Xiao-bin lives in the U.S., where he had attended high school and college while Ji was working in China's Washington embassy, and Wang was working at the United Nations.[12] In his final years, Ji divided his time between Beijing and the island of Hainan.[6]

Death

Ji Chaozhu died on April 29, 2020, at the age of 90 from an undisclosed illness.[4][13] News of his death was first announced by the China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a brief notice to the Associated Press. He was survived by his wife and his two sons.[13]

Ambassadorial appointments

From 1985 to 1987, Ji was Chinese Ambassador to Fiji with concurrent nonresident Diplomatic accreditation as Chinese Ambassador to Kiribati and Chinese Ambassador to Vanuatu.[14]

From 1987 to 1991 he was Ambassador to the Court of St James (United Kingdom).[14]

References
  1. "Biographical Notes of Ambassador Ji Chaozhu". Embassy PRC United Kingdom. January 6, 2006. Archived from the original on February 5, 2009. Retrieved May 9, 2008.
  2. Ji, Chaozhu (2008). The Man on Mao's Right: From Harvard Yard to Tiananmen Square, My Life Inside China's Foreign Ministry Hardcover – July 15, 2008. ISBN 978-1400065844.
  3. "Ji Chaozhu - Penguin Random House". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  4. Seelye, Katharine Q. (May 5, 2020). "Ji Chaozhu, Interpreter for China During Nixon's Trip, Dies at 90". The New York Times. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  5. Dartmouth, University of Massachusetts. "Arts and Sciences Home". Umassd.edu. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  6. Barboza, David (February 17, 2012). "The Man on Mao's Right, at the Center of History". The New York Times. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  7. "Alumni". Louis August Jonas Foundation. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  8. Shi, Jiangtao (May 3, 2020). "Ji Chaozhu, Chinese diplomat who acted as bridge with US during historic thaw in relations, dies aged 91". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on May 7, 2020. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  9. Press, Associated. "Ji Chaozhu, Chinese diplomat and Mao Zedong's interpreter, dies at 90". Washington Post. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  10. "The Indispensable Mr. Chi". Nytimes.com. February 2, 1979. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  11. "Interview: Veteran diplomat: Deng's U.S. visit "a historic decision"". People's Daily. January 30, 2009. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  12. Ji, Chaozhu (July 15, 2008). The Man on Mao's Right: From Harvard Yard to Tiananmen Square, My Life Inside China's Foreign Ministry. Random House Publishing Group. p. 159–160, 236. ISBN 9781588367198.
  13. "Veteran Chinese diplomat and Mao Zedong's interpreter dies". ABC News. Associated Press. May 7, 2020. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  14. "Biographical Notes of Ambassador Ji Chaozhu". Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China. Archived from the original on November 4, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2020.

Further reading
  • "Chaozhu Ji. The Man on Mao’s Right," H-Diplo Roundtable Reviews. X.22 (2009). Introduction by Yafeng Xia Reviewers: James Z. Gao, Charles W. Hayford, Lorenz M. Lüthi, Raymond P. Ojserkis, Priscilla Roberts, Patrick Fuliang Shan, Qiang Zhai.
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