Remarks on the Plan for Building National Defence Fortifications
(11 July 1953)

Comrade Huang Kecheng[1]:
I approve of your reduction plan[2], which is very necessary. I hope it will be deployed accordingly.

Mao Zedong
11 July

[1] Huang Kecheng, then serving as Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
[2] Refers to the plan proposed in Huang Kecheng’s report to Mao Zedong on 11 July 1953 to reduce the construction of national defence fortifications in places such as Liaodong. The report stated that, in view of various constraints—such as shortages of financial and material resources, technology, and technical leadership, as well as the lack of modern fortification experience among leading cadres and construction troops—there would indeed be great difficulty in completing the original plan within five years. It therefore proposed to re-examine the entire plan and adopt a policy of steady construction, namely, to build less in the first three years so as to train cadres and gain experience, and then to increase construction year by year thereafter.