Comments on the Discussion of the 1953 National Budget Table and Other Matters [1] (February 8, 1953)

Premier Zhou: The budget table can be discussed with a small group of people tonight, around nine to ten o’clock, after your banquet [2]. If possible, you might also briefly review the report [3].

From three to five in the afternoon, I am scheduled to meet with Huang Yanpei, Chen Shutong, Li Zhuchen, and Sheng Pihua [4] to discuss the public debt issue; they have requested this meeting, and their request seems quite urgent.

Mao Zedong, February 8, at one o’clock, printed from the manuscript.

Notes [1] These comments were written on Zhou Enlai’s report of February 7, 1953, to Mao Zedong concerning the discussion of the 1953 national budget table. [2] Refers to the banquet that Zhou Enlai had arranged for the afternoon of February 8, 1953, to receive Pan Youxin, the Soviet Ambassador to China. [3] Refers to the draft report prepared by Bo Yibo, Vice Chairman of the Administrative Council’s Finance and Economic Commission and Minister of Finance, which he was to present to the Central People’s Government Committee on the implementation of the 1952 national budget and the 1953 national budget. [4] Huang Yanpei was then Chairman of the Central Committee of the China Democratic Construction Association and Vice Premier of the Administrative Council. Chen Shutong was then Chairman of the Preparatory Committee of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Li Zhuchen was then Vice Chairman of the Preparatory Committee of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. Sheng Pihua was then Vice Chairman of the China Democratic Construction Association and Vice Mayor of Shanghai.