Comrade Enver Hoxha, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Albanian Party of Labour,
Comrade Haxhi Lleshi, Chairman of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly of the People’s Republic of Albania,
Comrade Mehmet Shehu, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People’s Republic of Albania:

On the joyous occasion of the 15th anniversary of the liberation of Albania, we wish to 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 fraternal Albanian people, the Albanian Party of Labour, and the Government of the People’s Republic of Albania, our most heartfelt and warmest congratulations.

With boundless delight, the Chinese people have observed that over the past fifteen years, the industrious and courageous Albanian people, endowed with a glorious revolutionary tradition, have, under the leadership of the Albanian Party of Labour and the Government of the People’s Republic of Albania, achieved tremendous successes in the political, economic, and cultural fields. Before liberation, Albania was an economically backward country; now, she has become a socialist state with a flourishing economy and an advanced culture. At present, the Albanian people, with soaring militancy, are engaged in selfless labour to fulfil the revised and expanded Second Five-Year Plan, advancing by leaps and bounds on the road of building socialism. These great achievements of the Albanian people once again prove that once the people become masters of their own destiny, under the leadership of a Marxist-Leninist party, they can surely accomplish earth-shaking undertakings.

The Albanian people have persistently and unswervingly struggled to consolidate the staunch unity of the socialist camp headed by the Soviet Union, to safeguard the purity of Marxism-Leninism, and to oppose modern revisionism, and have made significant contributions. The Albanian Government has consistently pursued a foreign policy of peace, made tremendous efforts to preserve peace in the Balkan region and the world, and to strengthen friendship and unity among the peoples of all countries, thereby winning widespread praise from the peoples of the world.

With the rapid advance of the socialist construction undertakings of our two countries, the fraternal friendship between the Chinese and Albanian peoples will surely continue to strengthen, and the friendly and cooperative relations between China and Albania will surely grow ever closer.

We wish the fraternal Albanian people still greater achievements in the cause of building socialism.

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

28 November 1959