"You have us by your side, and your motherland behind you!" - Documentary on the successful evacuation of Chinese compatriots in Ukraine by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
This is a life relay in a race against time.
This is a love delivery in the midst of war.
On the morning of March 21, two temporary flights to pick up and return Chinese citizens evacuated from Ukraine returned to China safely.
So far, 19 temporary flights to pick up and return Chinese citizens evacuated from Ukraine have returned home safely.
The bright five-star red flag points the way home.
Tensions in Ukraine are constantly escalating, and the Party Central Committee and the State Council are highly concerned about the safety of every compatriot in Ukraine.
General Secretary Xi Jinping personally cared about it, and asked him many times to make every effort to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant embassies and consulates abroad took immediate action, and a major power consular protection operation was launched quickly.
Strong, safe and orderly.
This national action has profoundly demonstrated China's ability and responsibility as a responsible major country, and fully demonstrated the concept and value of putting people first and diplomacy for the people.
Full deployment, efforts to ensure the safe evacuation of Chinese citizens
There are about 6,000 Chinese citizens in Ukraine, including personnel from Chinese-funded enterprises, overseas Chinese, individual practitioners and more than 2,700 international students, scattered all over Ukraine.
They are the friendly messengers of exchanges and cooperation between China and Uzbekistan, and they are brothers and sisters who are connected by flesh and blood.
Since the turmoil in Ukraine, in accordance with the decision and deployment of the Party Central Committee, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs quickly activated the consular protection emergency mechanism. An emergency plan for protecting and evacuating compatriots in Uzbekistan in case of emergency has been formulated, and safety warnings and reminders have been issued to compatriots in Uzbekistan in a timely manner.
On February 24, Russia announced a special military operation in the eastern region of Ukraine, and the country entered a state of emergency.
As the situation changed suddenly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' 12308 Global Consular Protection and Service Emergency Hotline immediately dispatched additional staff to deal with the various needs of the compatriots as soon as possible.
The Chinese embassy and consulate in Ukraine immediately entered a wartime state, used various channels to issue safety reminders in a timely manner, and organized citizen registration.
The front and rear interact day and night, with only one common purpose—to establish contact with all Chinese compatriots in Uzbekistan in critical moments and prepare for the next evacuation.
"The motherland is behind you, and the embassy is by your side!" Ambassador Fan Xianrong conveyed confidence to his compatriots in Ukraine through video.
Consul General Song Liqun in Odessa organized extensive mobilization for security protection and preparations for evacuation.
In a crisis situation, the safe evacuation of every compatriot affects the hearts of every Chinese.
The development and intensity of the war made it difficult to implement the first air and sea evacuation plan for a while, and land evacuation became the only feasible plan.
Under the intensive organization and arrangement of the Party, the government and the Chinese embassies and consulates in Ukraine and neighboring countries, it was finally decided to organize all Chinese compatriots in Ukraine to evacuate westward to neighboring countries, and then arrange temporary flights to return home.
On February 28, the "safety window period" of the ceasefire between the two countries appeared briefly.
Under the direct command of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs instructed the embassy in Ukraine and the consulate general in Odessa to seize the opportunity and start a centralized evacuation operation against time.
State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi specifically emphasized in his phone call with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba that he hopes that Ukrainian side will take all necessary measures to protect the safety of Chinese citizens in Ukraine and provide guarantee and convenience for the evacuation of Chinese citizens.
During the war, a large number of people evacuated westward, it was difficult to find a car, and the order was chaotic.
My embassy and consulate in Ukraine tried every means to mobilize all resources, overcome all kinds of difficulties, and rented dozens of buses.
At the same time, the embassies and consulates also guide local overseas Chinese and Chinese-funded enterprises to carry out self-help and mutual assistance, actively help international students, and evacuate in an orderly manner by self-driving or accompanying motorcades.
Under the careful organization of the embassy and consulate, a large number of compatriots scattered all over Uzbekistan went to the embassy and consulate to gather, took the embassy and consulate motorcade, and dispersed to the safe areas of neighboring countries.
As the Chinese evacuation convoys drove from Kyiv and Odessa to the borders of Ukraine and other countries, Chinese compatriots who were evacuated by self-driving continued to join in.
Crisis on the way out.
According to a staff member of the embassy in Ukraine who escorted 88 international students to Moldova by bus, three bombs exploded in front of the bus less than an hour after the departure.
Along the way, everyone went through at least 15 levels.
The diplomats of the embassy escorted and negotiated all the way, opening a "channel of life" for the evacuation of the compatriots.
On March 1, the special train from Kyiv to western Ukraine and neighboring countries started.
The embassy in Ukraine issued a timely announcement, calling on our citizens to join the Ukrainian special train to evacuate to the neighboring countries in western Ukraine.
The embassy also dispatched special personnel to the Kyiv Railway Station to be stationed 24 hours a day to assist them in solving various problems they encountered.
Breaking up and saying goodbye, saying "respect", can't tell the love of siblings, and can't tell the family and country.
The Chinese Consulate General in Odessa organized and arranged the safe evacuation of more than 60 Chinese crew members on 4 international ships berthed in the port, actively coordinated with the Nikolayev Shipbuilding University in the consular area, and dispatched buses in time to overcome the bridge bombing. , traffic interruption and other difficulties, 68 Chinese students were safely sent to Odessa, and then they organized the evacuation together.
The Consulate-General in Odessa also urgently transferred more than 20 leased buses to Kyiv to assist the embassy in Ukraine to carry out the evacuation.
The war in the Udong area is stalemate, and it is the most difficult to concentrate the evacuation.
In Kharkov, on March 3, after working hard, a special evacuation train sent my last batch of more than 180 students in the city to a safe area in western Ukraine.
In the Samui area where gunfire was roaring, after many days of siege, on March 8, 115 Chinese students in the Samui area were safely evacuated by 4 buses under the unified organization of the embassy.
In just a few days, more than 5,200 compatriots were safely evacuated to many neighboring countries.
Except for one person who was shot and injured while driving, and has been treated without fear, all the others are safe, and the evacuation from the war has achieved "no deaths and no group injuries".
Amid the raging war, the safe evacuation in a short period of time is not only due to the decisive and rapid Chinese actions, but also to the people-oriented Chinese concept.
Coordination of all parties, the motherland is the most solid support
"Go to the border! Pick up your compatriots!"
With the launch of the evacuation operation, the Chinese embassies in Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Belarus and other neighboring countries of Ukraine acted quickly and closely linked with the embassies and consulates in Ukraine to facilitate the entry clearance and temporary resettlement of Chinese citizens.
At the same time, fully mobilize local overseas Chinese groups, Chinese-funded enterprise associations, international student organizations and consular assistance volunteers, rent buses, book hotels, purchase a large amount of food, water and medical supplies, and make every effort to respond, resettle, care and transfer the evacuated compatriots. and evacuated to return to work.
"No matter what kind of dangers or difficulties we face, the motherland will always be our strongest backing." said Qu Bo, president of the Odessa Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, who assisted the embassy and consulates to evacuate their compatriots in this operation. , "With the great motherland behind us, we are more secure and will work harder to contribute to the development of the motherland."
For the compatriots in the war, the greatest hope is to return to the embrace of the motherland as soon as possible.
While the embassies and consulates ahead rushed to organize the evacuation overnight, the domestic pick-up plan was also in full swing.
Under the overall coordination of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, various domestic departments and local governments have closely coordinated to quickly advance various tasks.
On the evening of March 4, the first temporary flight dispatched by the Chinese government flew from Beijing to Bucharest, the capital of Romania.
In order to ensure the compatriots return home as soon as possible, safely and in an orderly manner, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs urgently deployed embassies in more than 20 countries including Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, etc., and immediately submitted flight and overflight applications to the host countries through diplomatic channels. .
The Civil Aviation Administration of China instructs relevant airlines to make relevant technical preparations.
The embassies and consulates continued to work hard to carry out the registration, organization and related remote prevention and control of passengers' information, coordinate the local airport, border defense, customs and other departments to provide all-round support such as check-in, security inspection, exit, security, etc., to give my flight safety. Process special guarantee.
The ambassador went to the airport to coordinate related work and saw off the compatriots.
"When you board the plane, it means stepping on the land of the motherland, no longer displaced by war, no longer disturbed by the turbulent social environment, and Air China will take you home." Hearing the broadcast of the flight captain , the returning compatriots burst into tears, and the warm video spread all over the Internet.
"Thanks to the motherland, we can go home safely" "With the motherland, we feel at ease"... At the station, airport, in front of Chinese embassies and consulates in many countries, and temporary resettlement sites, the five-star red flag was waved and the national anthem was sung. And the sincere emotion contains thousands of words, expressing gratitude to the motherland.
After the first temporary flight successfully arrived in Hangzhou, the Consular Protection Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a brief message, which immediately sparked heated discussions on the Internet.
Netizens expressed their pride and emotion in various ways: "What a blessing to be born in China" "No matter where you are, the motherland is always your protector".
"There is a strong motherland behind us, and warm embassies and consulates around us," said Cheng Yunjia, chairman of the Chinese Students' Association of Ukraine. "This evacuation operation once again proves that the motherland can pick us up from anywhere in the world. For our compatriots in the country, we feel lucky and proud."
Consular protection, continue to build "safe China overseas"
The success of this evacuation operation is the result of the solidarity and cooperation of all parties concerned under the decision and deployment of the Party Central Committee.
My embassies and consulates in 7 countries operate day and night, making every effort to accommodate the compatriots in transit; various domestic departments and localities have closely coordinated, and quickly dispatched several chartered planes to pick up citizens from Ukraine one after another from Europe...
Today, the evacuation has basically come to an end.
Looking back at the whole process, there are some moving moments:
——In the small basement of the embassy in Ukraine, with the sound of explosions, all the staff and family members went into battle to ensure that every compatriot was contacted;
——My personnel stationed abroad are constantly on the go, and the consular security phone in their hands is non-stop. When the phone is hot, the voice is hoarse or even unable to speak; some comrades continue to work in the cold open air, which leads to the recurrence of leg problems. , still stick to the post;
——In the special resettlement site for Chinese compatriots, even if there are few people in the embassy, even if it is windy and snowy, as long as there are compatriots entering the country, the diplomatic personnel of the embassy will always be there;
——When the baby who arrived in the safe area finally drank milk powder made with hot water, when the patient who had undergone heart surgery soon got into the car of the Chinese staff, the inbound compatriots really felt the concern of the motherland and the government;
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The touching scenes and pictures convey power and reach people's hearts, and they have become unforgettable stories that the evacuees recall and tell by coincidence.
As of March 22, 19 flights have brought back more than 4,400 Chinese citizens, and the follow-up temporary flight arrangements are still progressing in an orderly manner.
At the same time, relevant domestic departments and local governments acted quickly to overcome difficulties and do their best to ensure entry quarantine and isolation of compatriots entering the country, so that every returning compatriot can feel the warmth of home.
China has nearly 10 million overseas compatriots. Under the current increasingly complex and severe international security situation, there is a long way to go to protect the lives and legitimate rights and interests of overseas compatriots.
Chinese diplomats tell every overseas compatriot with actions: "No matter what time, no matter where you are, you have us by your side, and behind you is the motherland!"
Consular protection, always on the way.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chinese embassies and consulates abroad will always keep their original aspirations and missions in mind, actively promote the core construction of the government-led consular protection mechanism, and continue to build a "safe China overseas".
(Reporters Wu Lejun, Xiao Xinxin, Tan Wujun, Yu Yang, Yang Yi, Dai Kairan, and the Consular Protection Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs contributed to this article)