(October 13, 1958)

Military and civilian compatriots in Taiwan, Penghu, Jinmen, and Mazu:

A week has passed, the cannons have not fired, and one side is quiet. The whole world welcomes it, and you are happy. A few gentlemen are a bit uncomfortable, with lingering fears and wild thoughts. For example, they say: what the Communist Party is proposing to you is a crafty scheme. A crafty scheme? History will prove that it is not, but rather a better way out. For example, they say: after seven days, there will be major fighting again. You have not seen one word clearly in my first letter, and that is the word “temporarily” in “temporarily set a period of seven days,” which means it could be extended; seven days is a temporary stipulation. Several weeks ago, our policy was already told to your leaders: a period of seven days, starting on the sixth. Did you see the Nanyang Siang Pau of October 5? A passerby had a news perspective and revealed it a day early, but that is of no great consequence. The policy was decided early and will be resolutely implemented. What crafty scheme is there, what major fighting? One says the Communist Party cannot be trusted. You have thirty years of experience in dealing with us. Let us settle the accounts. We have had peace talks with you twice in history. One time, in 1945, all parties held a Political Consultative Conference in Chongqing and passed an agreement for the whole people to unite and work together for the nation. Who tore up this agreement? The Guomindang. Another time, in 1949, delegations from the two parties gathered in Beijing and drew up a forty-eight-article peace agreement, which the plenipotentiary representatives of both sides signed and agreed to. Who was unwilling to ratify this agreement and preferred to continue fighting? The Guomindang. From this, it can be seen that although you have much experience, you do not know how to sum it up. You do not reflect on yourselves, but instead conclude that the Communist Party cannot be trusted. To confound right and wrong to such an extent! You rely on the United States for your meals. Can you rely on them? You definitely cannot. Sooner or later, they will cast you into the Eastern seas. Was it not the Americans who intended to strike a vicious blow and put your leaders to death at one stroke? That American running dog, General Sun Li-jen, was he not dealt with by you? He is one of your military traitors. The foreign slave Hu Shi, who formed a faction and, under the name of freedom and democracy, specialized in undermining the Guomindang. Did you not launch a major punitive expedition and desperately resist for a time? He can be considered a civilian traitor, relying on the U.S. to oppose China, his baleful influence still present. I think it will still be difficult for you to rest easy. You see, do the Americans have one iota, one particle, one bit, one jot of so-called benevolence, righteousness, and morality? As for other various matters, thousands and tens of thousands of infuriating things, you have experienced them all personally, and I need not say more. Grievances piled up like mountains, and once they erupted, there was the campaign of May 24 last year. This must be recorded in bold letters in Chinese history and world history. What American embassy? With a few punches and kicks, it was smashed to smithereens. Well done! Excellently done! Because those people were bullying others too much. Some among you say: the Communist Party is sowing discord between you and the Americans. What is called sowing discord? You have just dealt with a civilian traitor, a military traitor, and an embassy. Compared to our few idle words, even if they are called sowing discord, whose has more weight? We are just trying to awaken you, to resolutely break away from U.S. imperialism and draw close to the great motherland. Is this not a good thing? We ask nothing of you, only hope that you will implement Mr. Sun Yat-sen's patriotic Three Principles of the People, and then gradually advance to socialism, and that is all. Since U.S. imperialism occupied Taiwan, the situation has changed. U.S. imperialism has become our common enemy. The Guomindang is no longer our main enemy. We and you are still adversaries, but this adversity, compared to the national contradiction, has been relegated to a secondary position. Several years ago, Premier Zhou Enlai proposed peace talks to you; this is precisely the reason. If the peace talks are victorious, settled, and successful, then our two parties can once again turn from enemies into friends. We propose: all military and civilian compatriots in Taiwan, Penghu, Jinmen, and Mazu unite, adopt a firm yet flexible policy, reduce internal friction among yourselves, and unanimously deal with the national enemy. One of your military spokesmen said: a seven-day ceasefire is too short, there are no docks, everything relies on manual transport, and not many things can be supplied. This is the truth. For this reason, we have decided to suspend for another seventy days, starting from today. If necessary upon expiration, an extension can be considered. You are afraid that we will launch a major offensive. In that case, you can do some things: build high walls to thank me for my generosity. Someone among you also says: stopping and fighting, fighting and stopping, this is another crafty scheme of the Communist Party. Let me tell you: it is indeed so, but it is not a crafty scheme. Before negotiations are held and peace is realized, the state of war between your side and mine still exists. Of course, we can only talk and fight, fight and stop. But the talks mentioned here do not refer to the Warsaw talks, but specifically to the negotiations between our two parties. Internal political problems do not permit foreign interference; it is not convenient to discuss this in Warsaw. What is being discussed in Warsaw is the issue of an American walking away. The Americans are trying to do business with us, wanting to trade Jinmen and Mazu for Taiwan and Penghu, to create two Chinas. How sweet their dream is! Ceasefire, ceasefire, another ceasefire! We do not know how much common sense American officials actually have. It seems not very much. To say they represent the United States itself in discussing this issue, there is no fighting between China and the United States, so there is no fire to cease; they cannot represent themselves. To say they represent you is also an imposture. Your leaders oppose the Warsaw talks and ridicule the ceasefire. You have not entrusted the Americans to be your representatives. If you had, we would not agree either. Why should we, two political parties of China, not negotiate directly, but entrust a foreign country to be our representative? We feel ashamed of such negotiations, and therefore they cannot be held. What is discussed in Warsaw can only be the issue of Sino-U.S. relations, and it will be so for ten thousand years. Friends in Taiwan, you must not honor the United States as an emperor. Please read the biography of Lu Zhonglian. The United States is just like that King Min of Qi. Speaking of King Min of Qi, a candle in the wind in his declining years, tottering on the brink of collapse, he still acted so tyrannically toward the small states of Lu and Wei. A person from the Six Dynasties said: When Han fell, Zifang was roused; when Qin became emperor, Lu Lian was shamed. Originally a man of the rivers and seas, his loyalty and righteousness moved the noble-minded. Now is the time to rebel against imperialism.

Peng Dehuai
Minister of National Defense of the People's Republic of China
1:00 a.m., October 13, 1958