On the Telegram Concerning the Publication of a Statement Refuting Acheson's Rumors
(January 19, 1950)

Comrade Shaoqi, and inform Qiaomu:

(1) I have drafted a statement in Qiaomu's name. Please review it and arrange for its publication.

(2) The article "The Road [to Liberation] of the Japanese People" is very well written. It is now being translated into Russian, to be submitted to Stalin for his perusal.

Mao Zedong
5:00 a.m., January 19

(January 20, 1950)
[Beijing, January 20 (Xinhua)] Hu Qiaomu, Director of the Information Administration of the Central People's Government, today issued a statement to Xinhua News Agency reporters, refuting the shameless rumors spread by U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson.

Director Hu Qiaomu stated: In his lengthy speech at the National Press Club on January 12, U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson fabricated a whole series of rumors. Officials of U.S. imperialism, represented by people like Acheson, are degenerating day by day into the most degenerate political swindlers who cannot survive unless they resort to the most shameless rumors. This fact demonstrates the degree of spiritual degradation the U.S. imperialist system has reached. Acheson's entire speech uses rumors to cover up the actual U.S. policy of aggression. For example, he said: "Our interests coincide with the interests of the peoples of Asia." When referring to China, he said: The interests of the United States and the interests of the Chinese people "are parallel and never conflict." "Ever since the proclamation of the Open Door policy, through the signing of the Nine-Power Treaty, [2] to the most recent resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, this has been our principle, and we have consistently adhered to it." Not a single word of this is anything but a lie. Using every possible means to penetrate China and turn China into a colony of the United States — this is the basic policy of the United States. Using six billion U.S. dollars in recent years to help Chiang Kai-shek slaughter several million Chinese people — [1] This dispatch was drafted by Mao Zedong. [2] The Nine-Power Treaty was signed in February 1922 by the United States, Britain, France, Japan, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the Chinese Northern Warlord government at the Washington Conference. The treaty stipulated "China's Open Door" and "equal opportunity" for the powers' interests in China, principles of joint aggression against China.

this is what is meant by the so-called interests of the United States and the interests of the Chinese people being "parallel and never conflicting."

Director Hu Qiaomu said: The most shameless of Acheson's rumors is not the ones mentioned above, but rather the rumors he has fabricated concerning Sino-Soviet relations.

Acheson said: "The Soviet Union is in the process of incorporating the northern regions of China. This method, which has already been implemented in Outer Mongolia, [1] has also been almost carried out in Manchuria. [2] I believe Soviet agents are making very good reports to Moscow from Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang. This is the current situation, namely, vast areas inhabited by the entire Chinese population are breaking away from China and merging with the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union's occupation of the four regions of northern China is an important fact for the great powers with interests in Asia, and for us it is very important."

The U.S. State Department has its own history when it comes to statements on Sino-Soviet relations. That the Soviet Union helped the Chinese Communist Party is completely without foundation — this was what the gentlemen of the U.S. State Department often said before 1948. This was because, at that time, in the eyes of the State Department gentlemen, their war gamble in China still seemed to hold some hope. The Soviet Union is attempting to control China — this was what the State Department said in the White Paper on China published in 1949. This was because, by that time, the State Department gentlemen had already begun to feel that their gamble was about to be lost completely. The Soviet Union is occupying the four regions of northern China — this was the statement made on January 12, 1950. This was because the United States' gamble on the Chinese mainland had already been utterly lost, leaving only Taiwan, where it seems they still want to try something. Thank God, the U.S. imperialists, swept away by the Chinese people and the Chinese People's Liberation Army, have no better option left than to fabricate such rumors. Such degenerate slander and vilification — alleging that the Chinese Communist Party is a running dog of the Soviet Union, that the Soviet Union has already, or is in the process of, or is about to annex China — can only arouse the indignation of the peoples of China and the Soviet Union and strengthen the friendly cooperation between the two countries. There will be no other result.

[1] Outer Mongolia refers to the Mongolian People's Republic.
[2] Manchuria refers to the Northeast region of China.