The national news agency Xinhua hosted a symposium on Monday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Kashmir Princess incident, in which three of its journalists were killed in a failed attempt to murder the then Premier Zhou Enlai by Taiwan agents.

On April 11, 1955, a chartered Air India plane named the Kashmir Princess heading from Hong Kong to Bandung, Indonesia exploded over the Pacific Ocean, killing all 11 passengers and five of the eight crew members on board.

"Among the dead were three excellent Xinhua journalists: Shen Jiantu, Huang Zuomei and Li Ping," recalled Tian Congming, Xinhua president. "Shen, who died at the age of 40, was the eldest, while Li was only 26."

Tian went on to note that in the 74 years since Xinhua’s founding, more than 150 journalists and staff members had sacrificed their lives performing their duty.

"They have made great contributions to the Chinese people," said Tian, adding that Xinhua journalists, one generation after another, had "endured severe tests" and "made tremendous sacrifices" since the agency's birth in the early 1930s.

He also mentioned Shao Yunhuan, who was killed in NATO’s bombing of the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia in 1999.

According to declassified documents, the explosion of the Kashmir Princess was caused by a time bomb planted by Taiwan’s secret service. However, Zhou, who had planned to take the plane to attend the Bandung Conference, was forced to change his schedule for an appendicitis excision.

Three members of the Chinese conference delegation, five Chinese journalists, one member of the Vietnamese delegation, one Polish journalist and one Austrian journalist died in the plane crash.

Sources from the Foreign Ministry said a series of activities would also be held to mark the anniversary of the Bandung Conference, convened from April 18 to 24 with participants from 29 Asian and African countries.

It was regarded as the first of its kind to be organized independently by developing countries.