Telegram on Assistance to Our Country’s Economic Construction [1]
(September 15, 1953)

Comrade Malenkov, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics:

At its meeting held on September 15, 1953, the Central People’s Government Council of the People’s Republic of China heard with satisfaction the report delivered by Comrade Li Fuchun, representative of the delegation of the Government of the People’s Republic of China, on the discussions with the Soviet Government concerning the question of Soviet Government assistance to our country’s economic construction. The Central People’s Government Council unanimously holds that, thanks to the agreement of the great Soviet Government to render systematic economic and technical assistance in the construction and reconstruction of 91 new enterprises and 50 enterprises currently under construction and reconstruction in China, the Chinese people will be able, through their efforts in studying the advanced experience and the latest technological achievements of the Soviet Union, gradually to build up their own powerful heavy industry. This will play an extremely significant role in China’s industrialization, in China’s gradual transition to socialism, and in strengthening the forces of the peace and democracy camp headed by the Soviet Union.

This is a telegram from Mao Zedong to Comrade Malenkov, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, expressing gratitude for the Soviet Government’s assistance to our country’s economic construction. The second part is a telegram from Mao Zedong to Zhang Wentian.

The fact that the two countries resolved in a single discussion the construction of 91 enterprises and the question of long-term assistance is a pioneering undertaking in history, fully embodying the truth spoken by the great Stalin: “The experience of this cooperation shows that no capitalist state could render the people’s democratic states such genuine and technically proficient help as the Soviet Union does. The point is not only that this help is extremely inexpensive and technically first-rate. The point is first and foremost that the basis of this cooperation is a sincere desire for mutual assistance and the achievement of common economic upsurge.”

In the course of the discussions, the Soviet Government, drawing on its rich experience of over thirty years of great socialist construction, put forward various principled and concrete proposals concerning the tasks of our country’s Five-Year Plan. These proposals will help us to avoid as many mistakes as possible and to take as few detours as possible in the course of China’s economic construction.

On behalf of the Chinese Government and the Chinese people, I express heartfelt gratitude to the Soviet Government and the Soviet people for this great, comprehensive, long-term, and selfless assistance. The Chinese Government and the Chinese people are willing, through their own unremitting efforts, to strengthen the economic cooperation and friendly alliance between the Soviet Union and China, in the interest of the common struggle for the cause of world peace.

Comrade Zhang Wentian: [I]

Mao Zedong
Chairman of the Central People’s Government
of the People’s Republic of China
September 15, 1953, Beijing

Today the Central People’s Government Council approved the telegram to be sent in my name to Comrade Malenkov expressing gratitude for the Soviet Government’s assistance to our country’s construction. It is hereby forwarded to you. Please call on Comrade Malenkov in person and deliver the above telegram with the Chinese text as the original and the Russian text as the copy, so as to show due solemnity.

Mao Zedong
September 15, 1953

[I] Zhang Wentian, then serving as Chinese Ambassador to the Soviet Union.