Editing Zhou Enlai (section)

===The Asian–African Conference===
[[File:Zhou Enlai and Sanusi Hardjadinata.jpg|thumb|Zhou Enlai and [[Sanusi Hardjadinata]], the chairman of the Bandung Conference.]]
In 1955, Zhou was a prominent participant in the [[Asian–African Conference]] held in Indonesia. The conference in [[Bandung]] was a meeting of twenty-nine African and Asian states, organized by Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and India, and was called largely to promote Afro-Asian economic and cultural cooperation and to oppose colonialism or [[neocolonialism]] by either the United States or the Soviet Union in the [[Cold War]]. At the conference, Zhou skillfully gave the conference a neutral stance that made the United States appear as a serious threat to the peace and stability of the region. Zhou complained that, while China was working towards "world peace and the progress of mankind", "aggressive circles" within the United States were actively aiding the Nationalists in Taiwan and planning to rearm the Japanese. He was widely quoted for his remark that "the population of Asia will never forget that the first atom bomb was exploded on Asian soil." With the support of its most prestigious participants, the conference produced a strong declaration in favor of peace, the abolition of nuclear arms, general arms reduction, and the principle of universal representation at the United Nations.<ref>Spence 527</ref>

On his way to the Bandung conference, an assassination attempt was made against Zhou when a bomb was planted on the Air India plane ''[[Kashmir Princess]]'', chartered for Zhou's trip from Hong Kong to Jakarta. Zhou avoided the attempt when he changed planes at the last minute, but all 11 of the flight's other passengers were killed, with only three crew members surviving the crash. A recent study has blamed the attempt on "one of the intelligence agencies of the KMT."<ref>Tsang 766</ref> Journalist [[Public Education Center|Joseph Trento]] has also alleged that there was a second attempt on Zhou's life at the Bandung conference involving "a bowl of rice poisoned with a slow-acting toxin."<ref>Trento 10–11</ref>

According to one account based on recent research, Zhou found out about the bomb on the ''Kashmir Princess'' after being warned of the plot by his own intelligence officers and did not attempt to stop it because he viewed those that died as disposable: international journalists and low-level cadres. After the crash, Zhou used the incident to warn the British about the KMT intelligence operatives active in Hong Kong and pressured Great Britain to disable the Nationalist intelligence network operating there (with himself playing a support role). He hoped that the incident would improve Britain's relationship with the PRC, and damage Britain's relationship with the ROC.<ref>Barnouin and Yu 156</ref> The official explanation for Zhou's absence on the flight, however, remains that Zhou was forced to change his schedule due to having had surgery for appendicitis.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20050419074046/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-04/11/content_2815170.htm "China marks journalists killed in premier murder plot 50 years ago"], [[Xinhua News Agency]], 11 April 2005</ref>

After the Bandung conference, China's international political situation began to gradually improve. With the help of many of the nonaligned powers who had taken part in the conference, the US-backed position economically and politically boycotting the PRC began to erode, despite continuing American pressure to follow its direction. In 1971 the PRC gained China's seat at the United Nations.<ref>Spence 596</ref>