To eliminate the harassment by sea bandits and safeguard the safety of sea lane transportation, to prepare forces for recovering Taiwan at an opportune moment and finally unify all the territory of the country, and to prepare forces to oppose imperialist aggression from the sea, we must, over a relatively long period, build a powerful navy in a planned and gradual manner in accordance with the conditions of industrial development and the financial situation.
Printed from the original document preserved in the Archives of the Navy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
Note
〔1〕 This is a passage from Mao Zedong's speech at an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.