Warm reception during the cold years

Milestone visit: Tun Abdul Razak Hussein visiting the Great Wall of China during his historic 1974 trip. On his left are then deputy Inspector-General of Police Tun Hanif Omar (inset), Tun Razak’s ADC Datuk Mohd Nordin Idris, then Permanent Representative to the United Nations Tan Sri Zakaria Ali, Datuk Abdul Rahman Rahim who later became first secretary when Malaysia opened its embassy in Beijing, and China’s chief of protocol Chu Chuan Hsien. — Picture courtesy of Datuk Abdul Rahman Rahim.

When Tun Razak’s delegation visited China in 1974, Tun Hanif Omar, who was part of the group, found the reception “heartening” and “genuine”.

ON the 40th anniversary of Tun Abdul Razak Hussein’s landmark visit to Beijing in 1974, Tun Hanif Omar, 75, is grateful for acting on one impulse but regrets making a subsequent decision.