To the military and civilian compatriots in Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu:
We are all Chinese.
Of the thirty-six stratagems, making peace is the best.
The battle of Kinmen is punitive in nature.
Your leaders have been too rampant for a long time past, ordering aircraft to penetrate the mainland wantonly, as far as Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Kang[1], and Qinghai, dropping leaflets, dispatching special agents, bombing Fuzhou, and harassing Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
If this can be tolerated, what cannot? Thus we have fired some artillery shells, to call this to your attention.
Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu are Chinese territory. On this point you agree, as it is seen in the proclamations of your leaders; they are certainly not the territory of the Americans.
Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu are a part of China, not another country.
There is only one China in the world, not two Chinas.
On this point, you also agree, as it is seen in the proclamations of your leaders.
The military agreement[2] concluded between your leaders and the Americans is one-sided; we do not recognize it and it should be abrogated.
The Americans will definitely abandon you one day.
Do you not believe it? The giant of history will come forth to prove it.
The first signs of this are already visible in Dulles's talk on September 30[3].
From your position, how can you not feel a chill in your hearts? In the final analysis, American imperialism is our common enemy.
The 130,000 military and civilian personnel in Kinmen are short of supplies, suffering from hunger and cold, a difficult situation to sustain for long.
For humanitarian reasons, I have ordered the Fujian front to cease bombardment for a temporary period of seven days, starting from October 6. You can freely and fully transport supplies, on the condition that there is no American escort.
If there is an escort, this does not apply.
The war between you and us has been going on for thirty years and is not yet over. This is not good.
We propose holding talks to achieve a peaceful settlement.
On this point, Premier Zhou Enlai told you several years ago.
This is an internal matter between your side and ours, not a matter between China and the United States.
The American occupation of Taiwan, Penghu, and the Taiwan Strait is a matter between China and the United States, which should be resolved through negotiations between the two countries, currently being held in Warsaw[4].
The Americans must eventually leave; it is impossible for them not to.
For them to leave early is to their advantage, because they can take the initiative.
To leave late is to their disadvantage, because they will always be passive.
Why has an East Pacific country come to the West Pacific? The West Pacific belongs to the people of the West Pacific, just as the East Pacific belongs to the people of the East Pacific.
This is common sense, which the Americans should understand.
There is no war between the People's Republic of China and the United States, so there can be no talk of a ceasefire.
Is it not a joke to talk of a ceasefire when there is no fire?
Friends in Taiwan, there is fire of war between us. It should be stopped and extinguished.
This requires negotiations.
Of course, fighting for another thirty years is no big deal, but it is ultimately more appropriate to seek a peaceful settlement at an early date.
Which course to follow, please decide for yourselves.

Peng Dehuai
Minister of National Defense of the People's Republic of China
Printed and issued at 1:00 a.m. on October 6, 1958, based on a manuscript by Mao Zedong.

Notes

--- Notes

[1] Kang refers to Xikang Province, which was abolished in 1955. Upon its abolition, its former administrative area was incorporated into Sichuan Province.
[2] Refers to the "Mutual Defense Treaty" signed between the United States and the Kuomintang government in Taiwan in 1954. See note [16] on page 419 of this volume.
[3] U.S. Secretary of State Dulles, in a statement to reporters on September 30, 1958, reiterated the U.S. position of "mutual renunciation of force" by both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party on the Taiwan issue. He criticized the Chiang Kai-shek government for maintaining large numbers of troops on islands such as Kinmen and Matsu as unwise and imprudent, and acknowledged that Chiang Kai-shek's plan to counterattack the mainland had a "very large hypothetical element," believing that "by their own strength alone, they are not going to get back there." When a reporter asked if U.S. policy toward Taiwan would change if the Chinese Communist Party made certain concessions, Dulles said: "Our policies in these respects are flexible and are adapted to the situation that we have to meet. If the situation that we have to meet changes, our policies will change with it."
[4] Refers to the Sino-U.S. Ambassadorial Talks. On April 23, 1955, Premier Zhou Enlai declared at a meeting of the heads of delegations of eight nations at the Asian-African Conference that the Chinese government was willing to negotiate with the U.S. government to discuss the easing of tensions in the Far East, especially the easing of tensions in the Taiwan region. On July 25 of the same year, China and the United States reached an agreement to hold ambassadorial-level talks, and the first meeting was held in Geneva, Switzerland, on August 1. The talks were later suspended due to a lack of sincerity on the part of the U.S. After the shelling of Kinmen began in August 1958, the U.S. government publicly expressed its readiness to resume the talks, and the two sides subsequently resumed talks in Warsaw, Poland, on September 15. By February 20, 1970, a total of 136 Sino-U.S. Ambassadorial Talks had been held. Due to the U.S. side's insistence on its position of interfering in China's internal affairs, the talks made no progress on the issue of easing and eliminating tensions in the Taiwan region.