During the Second Sino-Japanese War, he enlisted in the Eighth Route Army in 1937 and joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in February 1938.

He soon transferred to the New Fourth Army and followed commander Li Xiannian to the Henan-Hubei border region to establish a CCP revolutionary base area.

In July 1970, Bai, until then a career military officer,[2]: 208  was appointed as Minister of Foreign Trade to restore order to the ministry, which had been attacked by the Red Guards.

During his three-year tenure, he visited dozens of countries including France, Romania, Peru, and Burma, and signed trade agreements with them.

[5][2] In a meeting with an American delegation led by Henry Kissinger, Jiang Qing revealed that the reason for his dismissal was because the "handsome" Bai "failed to withstand the poisonous snake that took the form of a beautiful woman".