In the Tibet region, the present and the next few years will be a period in which the enemy and we contend for the masses and temper our armed capabilities. After a few years, for instance, three or four years, five or six years, or seven or eight years from now, a final decisive battle must eventually be fought to thoroughly resolve the issue. The original military strength of the Tibetan rulers was very weak; now they have a rebel armed force of over ten thousand with relatively strong fighting will—this is a serious enemy of ours. But there is nothing bad about this; on the contrary, it is a good thing, because it may become possible to finally resolve the issue through war. However, (1) within these few years, we must win over the basic masses and isolate the reactionaries; (2) we must temper our army to become highly capable in combat. Both of these tasks must be accomplished in the course of our army’s struggle against the rebel armed forces.