Reply to the Shanghai Municipal Committee and Others[1]

(June 23, 1949)

(1) We approve the measures you outlined in your June 18 telegram[2] to punish those who fabricated the mine rumors.

(2) The imperialists are currently employing dual tactics of inducement and coercion, pursuing a two-pronged policy of seeking legal status (to facilitate internal sabotage) while continuing to aid the Guomindang. Only through resolute yet appropriate struggle, and over a prolonged period, can we consolidate ourselves and defeat the enemy. (3) Shanghai and Wuhan are closely interconnected. Any measures you adopt in Shanghai and other areas should be promptly communicated to Lin and Deng,[3] and measures taken by Lin and Deng in Wuhan and other areas should likewise be promptly communicated to Shanghai. (4) Regarding the Amethyst, the prerequisite for its release is that the British side must acknowledge it was wrong to intrude into China’s inland waterways without the consent of the People’s Liberation Army (the emphasis is not on who fired first, as this is of little consequence; what matters is the unauthorized intrusion into inland waterways. As long as it was unauthorized, our forces were obliged to fire upon and detain it. Nor should the focus be on the timing coinciding with the river crossing; what matters is the unauthorized intrusion into inland waterways controlled by the People’s Liberation Army, which is impermissible regardless of timing). Only then can it be released; otherwise, it must not be released under any circumstances.

[1] This is the main content of a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in reply to the Shanghai Municipal Committee, with copies to the Nanjing Municipal Committee and the Central China Bureau.

[2] Refers to the June 18 telegram from the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China to the Central Committee. The telegram reported that British and American newspapers and news agencies in Shanghai were spreading rumors that the Guomindang had laid mines at the mouth of the Yangtze River when withdrawing from Shanghai, intimidating the public. The Shanghai Military Control Commission would order British and American newspapers, including the British-owned North China Daily News, to publicly admit their errors and issue severe warnings.

[3] Lin and Deng refer to Lin Biao and Deng Zihui.