Telegram on the Fifteenth Anniversary of the Liberation
(May 8, 1960)

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 Government of the Czechoslovak Republic:

On the occasion of the fifteenth anniversary of the liberation of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Army, we, on behalf of the Communist Party of China, the Government of the People’s Republic of China, and the Chinese people, extend to you, and through you to the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, the Government of the Czechoslovak Republic, and the Czechoslovak people, warm fraternal congratulations.

Over the past fifteen years, the industrious and wise Czechoslovak people, under the leadership of the glorious Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, have achieved brilliant successes in consolidating the dictatorship of the proletariat, carrying out socialist transformation, developing socialist construction, and raising the people’s material and cultural living standards. The Czechoslovak Republic has now become a highly industrially developed country in the world. At present, the Czechoslovak people, with soaring political enthusiasm and a spirit of initiative, are advancing victoriously to fulfill the program for completing socialist construction set forth by the Eleventh Congress of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and to accomplish the task recently put forward by the Party of enabling agriculture to catch up with the level of industry within ten years. The Chinese people are elated and inspired by the great achievements of their fraternal Czechoslovak people.

The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia has consistently safeguarded the great unity of the socialist camp headed by the Soviet Union and, together with fraternal Parties of various countries, has waged a resolute struggle against modern revisionism in Yugoslavia. The Government of the Czechoslovak Republic has unswervingly pursued a foreign policy of peace, actively supported all peace initiatives of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, opposed the imperialist policies of aggression and war, and waged a resolute struggle against the revival of West German militarism fostered by U.S. imperialism, thereby making a positive contribution to safeguarding European security and world peace.

The Chinese people are very glad to see that, with the rapid upsurge in the socialist construction undertakings of our two countries, the friendly and cooperative relations between China and Czechoslovakia in the political, economic, cultural, and scientific and technological fields have undergone all-round development. We are firmly convinced that the continued consolidation and development of the relations of unity, friendship, mutual assistance, and cooperation between China and Czechoslovakia will surely greatly promote the common prosperity of our two countries and strengthen the unity of the socialist camp headed by the Soviet Union.

We wholeheartedly congratulate the Czechoslovak people on achieving new and still greater successes under the correct leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in the lofty cause of building socialism, striving for lasting peace, and promoting the progress of mankind. May the unbreakable friendship between the peoples of China and Czechoslovakia be consolidated and developed with each passing day.

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

May 8, 1960