50 years ago today: King Birendra and Queen Aishwariya visited Kunming
Translation of the news about King Birendra and Queen Aishwariya's visit to Kunming on People's Daily archive.
Context: On 8 December 1973, Nepali King Birendra and Queen Aishwariya visited Kunming at the invitation of the acting president of China, Dong Biwu, and Premier Zhou Enlai. The context of the visit was a friendly state visit. In 1973, China adopted an “anti-hegemony” policy, mainly aiming at especially Soviet Union. The context of the conversation between King Birendra and the Chinese side was most likely influenced by the backdrop.
This visit was reported on the front page of People’s Daily (人民日报) in two articles (left piece and bottom piece).
Original newspaper archive acquired by The Araniko Project
Scanned version from Weibo
Translations:
King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya came to Kunming for a state visit at the invitation of Acting President Dong Biwu and Premier Zhou Enlai
Zhou Xing, Director of the Revolutionary Committee of Yunnan Province, held a banquet to warmly welcome the Nepalese guests
His Majesty King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Deva of Nepal and His Majesty Queen Aishwarya Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah and their entourage arrived in Kunming this afternoon by special plane from Kathmandu and were warmly welcomed by thousands of people in Kunming. King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya are paying a state visit to China at the invitation of Acting President Dong Biwu of the People's Republic of China and Premier Zhou Enlai of the State Council. Zhou Xing and Yang Yuying, Directors of the Revolutionary Committee of Yunnan Province, Wang Bicheng, first Deputy Director of the Provincial Revolutionary Committee and Commander of the Kunming Force of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Li Wei, director of the Kunming Revolutionary Committee and other officials and people from all walks of life warmly welcomed the Nepalese distinguished guests at the airport. It is a beautiful day in Kunming today. The national flags of China and Nepal and numerous colored flags flew at the airport. At around 3 p.m., when King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya and accompanying Foreign Minister Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and other Nepalese dignitaries stepped off the plane, Director Zhou Xing and Comrade Yang Yuying greeted them and shook hands with them. The people of all ethnic groups dressed in bright national costumes played elephant-foot drums to greet the distinguished guests, danced a happy welcome dance, and shouted "Warmly welcome the Nepalese distinguished guests!" "Long live the friendship between the Chinese and Nepalese people!" Our Ambassador to Nepal Cao Chi accompanied King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya on the same flight to Kunming.
Warmly welcome Nepali guests
At the invitation of Acting President Dong Biwu of the People's Republic of China and Premier Zhou Enlai of the State Council, His Majesty King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah of Nepal and His Majesty Queen Aishwarya Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah of Nepal have arrived in Beijing, the capital of our country, for a state visit. The Nepalese distinguished guest brought the profound friendship of the friendly Nepalese people towards the Chinese people, and the Chinese people extended a warm welcome to the Nepalese distinguished guest in a joyful mood. Nepal has a long history and ancient culture. The hard-working and brave Nepalese people have a glorious tradition of resisting imperialist aggression. The Government and people of the Kingdom of Nepal, under the leadership of His Majesty King Birendra, adhere to the non-aligned policy of independence, peace, and neutrality formulated by His Majesty King Mahendra, and unswervingly safeguard national independence and national sovereignty. The Nepalese people have made unremitting efforts in the cause of developing the national economy and culture and building their country, and have scored gratifying achievements. We are sincerely pleased with Nepal's achievements in various fields and wish them new victories on the road to independent development.
China and Nepal are both developing countries and belong to the third world. At present, the international situation is excellent. The people of Asia, Africa, and Latin America have achieved a series of new victories in their struggle for national independence and national defense. Third-world countries and people have become a solid force in the struggle against imperialism and hegemonism and are playing an increasingly important role in international affairs. The fourth closed-door meeting of the Non-Revolutionary Alliance countries and governments held in Algeria not long ago fully demonstrated the fighting spirit of unity in the third world. At this meeting, King Birendra emphasized his opposition to foreign aggression and power politics, advocating "protecting the weak from being invaded by the strong", "liberating poor countries from the mercy of rich countries", severely cracking down on racism and colonialism, and supporting national liberation movement. Nepal's just stance has made positive contributions to the cause of unity and anti-imperialism among the people of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, for which we express our admiration and admiration. The Chinese people are willing to strengthen unity and fight together with all the people of Nepal and countries and people who oppose aggression, interference, control, and bullying.
China and Nepal are connected by mountains and rivers and have been close neighbors since ancient times with traditional friendship. For 1,500 years, the relationship between China and Nepal has always been peaceful and friendly. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Nepal in 1955, the friendship between the two countries has made new progress. Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai visited Nepal twice. The late King Mahendra of Nepal and Crown Prince Birendra also visited our country. In 1960, China and Nepal signed a treaty of peace and friendship, and then successfully resolved the border issue the next year. Since then, the economic and technological cooperation and cultural exchanges between the two countries have been continuously strengthened. The friendly cooperative relations between China and Nepal have set a good example for establishing state-to-state relations based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. The Chinese people attach great importance to their friendship with the Nepali people and will work hard to consolidate and develop this friendship. We are convinced that the visit of Nepali distinguished guests to our country will make new contributions to further consolidating and developing the friendly cooperative relations between China and Nepal. We sincerely wish the distinguished Nepali guests complete success in their visit.