Central Telegram to Peng Dehuai ([1]) Regarding Xinjiang Affairs
(October 23, 1949)
Comrade Peng Dehuai, with copy to the Northwest Bureau:
(1) The representatives from the Xinjiang Autonomous Region attending the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference—Saifuddin (Uyghur), Alimjiang (Uzbek), and Tu Zhi (Han)—departed today by air for Jiuquan. Following discussions with you, they will return to Xinjiang.
(2) The first group of delegates to attend the CPPCC consisted of five leaders of the autonomous region, including Ahmetjan Qasimi, who tragically perished in an airplane crash over Siberia. Saifuddin and two others comprise the second delegation. Saifuddin, as a leading figure replacing Ahmetjan Qasimi, studied in Moscow and previously served as Director of the Education Department of the Xinjiang Provincial Government. Based on our understanding, he is a capable individual and has already been elected a member of the Central People’s Government. His current application for Party membership is deemed acceptable. Further instructions regarding the establishment of the Communist Party among Xinjiang’s various ethnic groups and the promotion of mass organizations will be issued separately.
(3) With respect to coordinating the operations of the Ethnic Army (consisting of 14,000 troops) with those of the People’s Liberation Army, we have already held talks with Saifuddin. We view the Ethnic Army as a relatively well-trained Uyghur people’s force that, over the past several years, has effectively contained and neutralized approximately 100,000 Nationalist reactionary troops through its own revolutionary activities, thereby playing a significant supporting role in the national revolution.
The Uyghur population numbers more than three million and constitutes the principal ethnic group in Xinjiang. Historically, reactionary forces primarily oppressed the Uyghurs in their efforts to subjugate the people of Xinjiang. Now, with the entry of the People’s Liberation Army, the Uyghur people along with all other ethnic groups have expressed warm welcome. However, only by forging fraternal relations with the Uyghurs (as well as with other ethnic groups) can the PLA successfully build a people’s democratic Xinjiang. Accordingly, the 14,000-strong Ethnic Army should be deployed alongside the PLA throughout Xinjiang, serving as a bridge between the PLA and the Uyghur, Kyrgyz, Mongol, and other ethnic communities to carry out mass work, establish people’s governments, organize local armed forces, and set up Party organizations. Specific arrangements for this matter should be initially discussed with Saifuddin, after which the Branch Bureau will gradually resolve the details.
The Central Committee
October 23

[I]
Peng Dehuai, then First Secretary of the CPC Northwest Bureau and Commander and Political Commissar of the First Field Army of the People’s Liberation Army.
[2]
Saifuddin, at the time acting chairman of the Central Committee of the Xinjiang League for the Defense of Peace and Democracy.
Alimjiang, then chairman of the Tacheng District Branch of the Xinjiang League for the Defense of Peace and Democracy. Tu Zhi, at the time vice president of Xinjiang College.
[3]
Ahmetjan Qasimi, prior to his death, was the leader of the People’s Autonomous Region in northern Xinjiang—covering the Ili, Tacheng, and Altay areas—and also served as chairman of the Central Committee of the Xinjiang League for the Defense of Peace and Democracy.