Telegram from Mao Zedong and Others Congratulating Czechoslovakia on Its National Day
(May 8, 1959)

Comrade Antonín Novotný, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and President of the Czechoslovak Republic,
Comrade Zdeněk Fierlinger, Chairman of the National Assembly of the Czechoslovak Republic,
Comrade Viliam Široký, Prime Minister of the Czechoslovak Republic:

On the occasion of the 14th anniversary of the National Day of the Czechoslovak Republic, we extend, on behalf of the Communist Party of China, the Government of the People’s Republic of China, and the Chinese people, to you—and through you to the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, the Government of the Czechoslovak Republic, and the Czechoslovak people—our warm fraternal congratulations.

Over the past year, the Czechoslovak people, under the correct leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, have achieved significant successes in developing the socialist economy and raising the people’s material and cultural living standards. At present, the Czechoslovak people, full of confidence, are striving to comprehensively realize the grand goal of completing socialist construction set forth by the 11th Congress of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovak people, consistently loyal to proletarian internationalism and devoted to peace, have made important contributions to strengthening the unity of the socialist camp headed by the Soviet Union, safeguarding the purity of Marxism-Leninism, resolutely opposing modern revisionism, and upholding world peace.

The Chinese people deeply appreciate the fraternal assistance and support extended by the Government and people of the Czechoslovak Republic in our socialist construction and in our struggle to safeguard sovereignty and territorial integrity and oppose U.S. imperialist aggression and foreign interference. We firmly believe that, with the vigorous development of the socialist construction undertakings of our two countries, the fraternal friendship and close cooperation between the Chinese and Czechoslovak peoples will surely be further consolidated and developed, thereby contributing to strengthening the great unity of the socialist camp headed by the Soviet Union and to the cause of safeguarding world peace. May the unbreakable fraternal friendship between the Chinese and Czechoslovak peoples endure forever.

Mao Zedong
Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

Liu Shaoqi
Chairman of the People’s Republic of China

Zhu De
Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China

Zhou Enlai
Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China

Beijing, May 8, 1959