Simultaneously Use Political Means to
Resolve the Issue in the Northwest Region
 (August 6, 1949)
To Comrade [Peng] Dehuai, as well as He [Long] and Xi [Zhongxun]:1
	 1.	 The enemy’s army in the Northwest is now retreating toward Hanzhong,
Lanzhou, and Ningxia. Our army must therefore divide into three units to
finish it off. What are your preparations for deployment? In addition to using
military methods, you must also use political methods to resolve this issue.
What is your opinion of this matter? We believe that since the Northwest is
so large and has many diverse ethnic groups, and since our Party has few
cadres trusted by the Hui people, if we want to attain a thorough, complete,
and rapid resolution, we must supplement military methods with political
methods. Our army now has the upper hand, so if we use political methods
the benefits will be great and the losses will be small. To do this, we must use
Guomindang personnel who have closed ranks with us, along with our own
people, to organize a military political commission to serve as a temporary
transitional apparatus. Zhang Zhizhong, Fu Zuoyi, and Deng Baoshan2 are
such Guomindang members.
	 2.	 Regarding the Suiyuan3 and Ningxia issue: We are prepared to cooperate
with Fu Zuoyi to resolve this matter. Because Yan Xishan4 and the reactionary elements in Suiyuan are rampaging in collusion with American imperialism, Fu Zuoyi’s subordinates, Dong Qiwu5 and others, are willing
to close ranks with us. However, they have not yet punished the reactionary
elements or rebuilt resolve among the ranks. Fu Zuoyi has begun to establish
this resolve and has proposed to solve the Suiyuan problem at an early date
and not let it continue like this. We and the enemy have agreed to organize
the Suiyuan Military Political Commission, with Fu as chairman and our
Gao Kelin [1907–2001, native of Shaanxi] as vice-chairman. There will be
more than ten committee members, with Fu’s men in the majority and ours
in the minority. Fifty thousand of Fu’s troops and twenty thousand of our
troops, from Tao Zhe and Wang Ping’s6 forces, will combine to make up two
armies. Their commanders will be Dong Qiwu and others; our people will be
the deputy commanders. In carrying out the system of military administration by the People’s Liberation Army, we should discard the bad and retain
the good, and carry out a gradual transformation. The two provincial governments of Suiyuan should become one, with Fu’s Dong Qiwu as chairman
and our Yang Zhilin (1911–1992, born in Hohhot) as vice-chairman. The
Provincial Government Committee should also have suitably matched people from both sides. This method will benefit each side. We will go through
a working process to attain the goal of gradual transformation. Fu Zuoyi has
expressed his satisfaction with this way of proceeding. In a few days, we will
send him to Suiyuan to work with our people to resolve the problems there.
	 3.	 Ma Hongkui7 and Fu Zuoyi are sworn brothers. Ma is sending Ma Rulong8
and someone called Ha to Suiyuan to sue for peace. Fu says Ma is willing
to sue for peace but is afraid that he will not attain it. Please consider the
Ningxia problem and whether or not we can rely on Fu Zuoyi to reorganize Ma Hongkui’s forces. Our opinion is that after the resolution of the Ma
Bufang9 question, we must penetrate Ningxia with Yang Dezhi’s troops10 and destroy Ma Hongkui’s troops, forcing the remainder to retreat into a trap.
Later, we can rely on Fu Zuoyi to deal with them through political methods.
	 4.	 Deng Baoshan knows General Ma Bufang and he is well-known in Gansu.
He is someone with no following, however; he has only a few cadres. Please
consider whether it is possible to send Deng Baoshan to Lanzhou to unite
with our people in organizing the Ganqing Military Political Commission
and the Gansu Provincial Government. These two organizations would have
Deng as their chairman and Zhao Shoushan and Wang Shitai as vice-chairmen. They would be transitional organizations. It is necessary to destroy
Ma Bufang’s power, but he is backed by some talented people who can be
retained. If we want to finally resolve Qinghai, then we must find people with
old connections to it. If we use Deng Baoshan as the head of Gan[su], then
we are possibly opening the way to finding others with such old connections,
and to ultimately resolving the problem of Qinghai. Furthermore, Panchen11
has now gone to Lanzhou. When you invade Lanzhou, please be extremely
careful to protect and respect him and other Tibetans in the Ganqing area, in
preparation for resolving the problem of Tibet.
	 5.	 Tao Zhiyue12 is wavering in the direction of using peaceful means to resolve
Xinjiang. We believe we should use Zhang Zhizhong to organize the
Xinjiang Military Political Commission. He should be chairman, and one of
us (perhaps send Wang Zhen13 to Xinjiang) should be vice-chairman, along
with someone from Yili. This committee will be a transitional organ.
	 6.	 For the moment, do not firmly stipulate how long these temporary transitional organs will remain in effect, in order to facilitate resolving the problems of reactionary armies and reactionary political regimes as well as issues
surrounding the land problem and the problem of minorities.
	 7.	 Hu Gongmian14 has already come to Xi’an. Please attend to using him to
mop up the forces of Hu Zongnan. Cheng Qian, and Chen Mingren15 have rebelled and come to Hunan to join our side. This must affect every part of
Chiang-Gui-Hu,16 giving us an opportunity to divide the enemy.
	 8.	 Also consider whether we can rely on Peng as chairman of the future
Northwest Military and Political Committee, and on Zhang Zhizhong as
vice-chairman.
	 9.	 Please consider and give your opinions on whether it is possible to carry out
the various points mentioned above.
Mao Zedong
This telegram has been sent to the Central China Bureau, the Hunan Provincial
Committee, Liu [Bocheng], Deng [Xiaoping], Zhang [Jichun], Li Da, the East
China Bureau, and Su Yu.17 Please carefully study these issues and whether these
methods should be used in other places, such as Hunan. Added by Mao.

---

Notes



--- Notes

1.  Peng Dehuai was commander and political commissar of the First Field Army. He
Long and Xi Zhongxun were the commander and political commissar, respectively, of the
Northwest Military Region.

2.  Zhang Zhizhong was the chief representative of the Guomindang government at
the peace negotiations. Fu Zuoyi and Deng Baoshan were commander-in-chief and deputy
commander-in-chief, respectively, of the Guomindang army’s North China “Bandit Suppression” Headquarters. Fu Zuoyi agreed to a peaceful resolution of the Beiping issue on
January 21, 1949, and Beiping was peacefully liberated on January 31.

3.  Suiyuan Province covered the central region of what is today’s Inner Mongolia, until
it was abolished in 1954.

4.  Yan Xishan was head of the Guomindang government’s Executive Yuan.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-299

5.  Dong Qiwu was formerly chairman of the Guomindang Provincial Government in
Suiyuan and deputy chief of the Guomindang’s Northwest Military and Political Affairs
Office. In June 1949, he signed the “Suiyuan Peace Agreement” with the East China People’s Government, and on September 19 he led the Guomindang leadership in Suiyuan as
well as thirty-nine representatives of various ethnic groups to jointly declare their rebellion
via telegram.

6.  Tao Zhe (1906–1979, native of Hunan) and Wang Ping (1907–1998, native of Hubei)
were commanders of the Suiyuan Military Region and Chahar Military Region, respectively.

7.  Ma Hongkui was deputy commander of the Guomindang army’s Northwest Military
and Political Affairs Office.

8.  Ma Rulong (born in Linxia, Gansu) was deputy commander of the Guomindang
army’s Ningxia Security Command.

9.  Ma Bufang was commander of the Guomindang army’s Northwest Military and
Political Affairs Office.

10.  Yang Dezhi was commander of the Nineteenth Corps of the First Field Army.

11.  The Panchen Lama (Lobsang Trinley Lhündrub Chökyi Gyaltsen) (1938–1989,
native of Qinghai) was one of the religious leaders of Tibet.

12.  Tao Zhiyue (1892–1988, native of Hunan) was deputy chief of the Guomindang’s
Northwest Military and Political Affairs Office and commander-in-chief of the Xinjiang
Garrison Command.

13.  Wang Zhen was commander and political commissar of the First Field Army’s First
Corps.

14.  Hu Gongmian (1888–1979, born in Yongjia, Zhejiang) was a democratic personage
who lived in Shanghai during the War of Liberation. He maintained communications with
underground Communist Party organizations and actively engaged in secret movements
among soldiers, provoking Guomindang troops to rebel.

15.  Cheng Qian was chairman of the Guomindang Provincial Government in Hunan
and director of the Changsha Pacification Office. Chen Mingren (!903–1974, native of
Hunan) was commander of the Guomindang army’s First Army Group.

16.  This refers to Chiang Kaishek, Bai Chongxi (leader of the Guangxi or Guilin system), and Hu Zongnan.

17.  Liu Bocheng was commander of the Second Field Army, and Deng Xiaoping was
political commissar, Zhang Jichun was deputy political commissar and head of the Political
Department of the Second Field Army, and Li Da was chief-of-staff of the Second Field
Army. Su Yu was deputy commander of the Third Field Army and the East China Military
Region.