Telegram to Liu Shaoqi on Drafting the Reply to Nehru[I]

(January 20, 1950)

Comrade Shaoqi:

The telegram sent at 1 a.m. today has presumably been received. The wording of the full text of the reply to Nehru must be carefully weighed, as this reply will serve as a model for replies to Britain and all capitalist countries. Please instruct the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to draft a version and telegraph it to us for review. It will not matter if this reply is sent a few days late. To facilitate the study of this reply, please instruct the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to locate and send the full texts of India’s first communication, our first reply, and India’s second communication. Also, please send the full texts of the telegrams exchanged between us and Britain.

Mao Zedong

7 a.m., January 20

[I] Nehru was then Prime Minister and concurrently Minister of External Affairs of India.