Telegram on Opinions Regarding the Construction of the China–Mongolia Railway
(September 6, 1952)
Comrade Enlai:
Your telegram of the 4th of this month has been received. I concur with your views on the Sino-Soviet-Mongolian railway and agree that the agreement should be made public only after the railway has been completed.
Mao Zedong
September 6
[1)
Refers to Zhou Enlai’s report of September 4, 1952, endorsing the proposal by the Soviet and Mongolian governments for a tripartite Sino-Soviet-Mongolian agreement on the construction of a railway between China and Mongolia. The report stated that the draft agreement centered on four key issues: (1) Both sides—China on one side and the Soviet Union and Mongolia on the other—would undertake the construction of the railway up to the Sino-Mongolian border; (2) Both sides would build the line to a gauge of 1,524 millimeters; (3) Surveying and design work would begin this year, construction would commence in 1953, and completion was scheduled for within 1955; (4) The line would be hauled by diesel locomotives and capable of handling twelve round-trip train services per day and night, with the possibility of increasing this to twenty-four round trips through subsequent agreement. With regard to the timing of the agreement’s publication, we expressed our agreement with Stalin’s view that it should be made public only after the railway had been completed.