(May 12, 1951)
Approve this plan.
(21)
Mao Zedong
May 12
[!] This is Mao Zedong's comment on the report dated May 11, 1951, by Nie Rongzhen, Acting Chief of the General Staff of the People's Revolutionary Military Commission of the Central People's Government.
[2]
Nie Rongzhen's report summarized the opinions discussed by the Ordnance Committee regarding the future policy for ordnance construction as follows: (1) Everyone unanimously agrees that future ordnance construction requires a clear policy. However, this policy must be formulated in accordance with the overall national defense construction plan.
Since the Military Commission has not previously made such a decision, it has been rather difficult to consider ordnance construction. However, in light of the current development of the international situation, we consider that to strive for victory in the Korean War and to safeguard the security of the mainland's national defense, it is necessary to maintain a national defense force of 60 armies and 180 divisions. The equipment of these armies needs to be improved based on the experience of the Korean War. (2) The equipment of the national defense force must strive towards the direction of self-sufficiency in production. (3) In principle, the calibers and specifications of various weapons need to be unified with those of the Soviet Union, but achieving complete unification immediately is impossible; the principle of gradual unification must be adopted. (4) Under the condition that the Soviet Union agrees to unify calibers and specifications with us, we do not intend to adopt the method of general ordering and hiring several advisors, but rather the method of asking the Soviet Union to "take full responsibility,"
for example, asking the Soviet Union to take responsibility for helping us establish a field gun factory,
and to provide sufficient technical personnel until we are taught to master the relevant technology.