Issues for Huang Hua to Take Note of When
Speaking to John Leighton Stuart
(May 10, 1949)
To the Nanjing Municipal Party Committee, and for the information of the East
China Bureau:
We received your telegram of May 8th.
	 1.	 Huang Hua1 can meet with John Leighton Stuart2 so as to ascertain the intentions of the American government.
	 2.	 When he meets with John Leighton Stuart, Huang Hua should spend more
time listening to what Stuart has to say and less time expressing his own
opinions. When he does express his own opinions, they should be in line
with Li Tao’s statement.3
	 3.	 In your telegram, you said, “There is no point in hollow words. America
needs to first do more to benefit the Chinese people”; there are problems with
these words. You should say, in accordance with Li Tao’s statement that no
foreign country should interfere in China’s internal affairs, America previously interfered in China’s internal affairs by assisting the Guomindang in
the civil war. This policy must end. If the American government is willing to
consider establishing diplomatic relations with us, the American government
should cease all activities that help the Guomindang and it should cut off ties
with the remaining reactionary Guomindang forces. You should not vaguely ask America to do more to benefit the Chinese people. If you say that, you
might give the American government the impression that we also hope to
obtain aid from it. What we are asking for now is that the American government stop helping the Guomindang, that it cut off ties with the remaining
Guomindang forces, and that it never again interfere with China’s internal
affairs. We are not asking America to do so-called “things to benefit the
Chinese people,” much less asking America to do so-called “even more to
benefit the Chinese people.” This phrasing implies that the American government has already done several things that have benefited the Chinese people, and the problem is that the quantity of such activities is rather meager,
and we want them to do “even more,” and this is not fitting.
	 4.	 You should state that the conversation with John Leighton Stuart is not formal, because the parties have yet to establish diplomatic relations.
	 5.	 The municipal Party committee should have a discussion with Huang Hua
before the talks.
	 6.	 During the talks, if John Leighton Stuart’s attitude is friendly, Huang Hua
should also adopt an appropriately friendly attitude. But he should not
express too much enthusiasm; instead, his attitude should be solemn and
polite.
	 7.	 Regarding the point mentioned by Fu Jingbo4 that John Leighton Stuart is
willing to continue as ambassador, to negotiate with us, and to amend the
trade treaty, you should not express refusal.
The Central Committee

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Notes

Our source for this document is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 5, pp. 293–94, which is reproduced from Mao Zedong’s handwritten manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.

--- Notes

1.  Huang Hua (1913–2010, native of Hebei) was head of the Nanjing Military Commission’s Foreign Affairs Office.

2.  John Leighton Stuart became the U.S. ambassador to China in July 1946 and
remained in Nanjing after the city was liberated in April 1949.

3.  The “Statement on the Atrocities of the British Warships by the Spokesperson of
the Chinese People’s Liberation Army” was drafted by Mao Zedong on April 30, 1949, on
behalf of Li Tao, head of the War Department of the Central Military Commission. The
statement severely denounced the Amethyst and other British military vessels for intruding
into an inland Chinese waterway and firing on the People’s Liberation Army. The statement
also indicated the impending establishment of a new foreign policy for China. See “The
People’s Liberation Army General Headquarters Spokesperson’s Solemn Statement on the
Atrocities of the British Warship,” April 30, 1949, in this volume.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-268

4.  Fu Jingbo (Philip Fugh, 1900–1988) was John Leighton Stuart’s personal secretary.