Comments on a Briefing Report on the Armed Rebellion in Tibet
(February 18, 1959)
To be read by Liu, Zhou, Chen Yi, and Xiaoping, then returned to Comrade Peng Dehuai.
The more chaos there is in Tibet, the better. It can temper the army, temper the basic masses, and provide ample justification for quelling the rebellion and implementing reforms in the future.
Mao Zedong
February 18

[1] This comment was written on Issue No. 16 of the *Briefing Report* compiled and printed by the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on February 14, 1959. This issue of the briefing carried a telegraphic dispatch from the Xinhua News Agency dated February 2, reporting that the armed rebellion in Tibet had developed into a full-scale rebellion.
[2] Liu refers to Liu Shaoqi. Zhou refers to Zhou Enlai. Chen Yi was then a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Vice Premier of the State Council, and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Xiaoping, i.e., Deng Xiaoping, was then General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council.
[3] Peng Dehuai was then a member of the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee, Vice Premier of the State Council, and Minister of National Defense.