Phnom Penh
Telegram on the Tenth Anniversary
(November 8, 1963)
His Royal Highness Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Head of State of Cambodia:
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the full independence of the Kingdom of Cambodia,
I wish to extend our warmest congratulations to Your Royal Highness, a revered friend of the Chinese people.
Under Your Royal Highness’s leadership, the Kingdom of Cambodia has striven vigorously to build its nation, fearlessly resisting aggression and safeguarding national independence. The Chinese people deeply admire this spirit. I am confident that the Cambodian people will surely overcome all difficulties on their path forward and achieve even greater successes.
May the profound traditional friendship between the peoples of China and Cambodia continue to grow stronger.
Mao Zedong
November 8, 1963

The Complete Works of Mao Zedong
Volume 46
In 1963, Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi met with King Sihanouk of Cambodia.

Conversation with the Albanian Prosecutor General and Others
(November 15, 1963)
Mao Zedong (hereafter referred to as Mao): We are very glad to welcome you comrades. How long have you been here?
Aranit Çela (hereafter referred to as Aranit): Ten days.
Mao: Did you come via the northern route or the southern route?
Aranit: Recently we came from North Korea. We stayed there for a month on vacation. We traveled to North Korea through the northern route.
Mao: Did they let you pass?
Aranit: They did allow us to pass, but treated us rather coldly.
Mao: Cold treatment, indeed! Please have a cigarette.
(The foreign guest says: I don’t smoke.) The comrades in North Korea are very good; they do excellent work.
Aranit: We agree with that.
Mao: Over these past few months, the struggle against revisionism has intensified worldwide. You have firmly held your ground and achieved victory. Your country is surrounded by adversaries. You serve as a great source of inspiration to genuine Marxist-Leninists around the globe.
When you return home, please convey my greetings to your leading comrades—Comrade Hoxha, Comrade Shehu, and the others.
Aranit: I will certainly pass on your regards.
Mao: Please have some tea. In addition to greeting Comrades Hoxha and Shehu, please also extend my greetings to Comrades Kaba, Alija, Baluku, and the other comrades.
Aranit: I will be sure to do so.
Mao: How was your harvest this year?
Aranit: Our harvest situation this year is as follows: Last winter saw excessive rainfall, which led to a poor summer harvest. However, spring plowing and sowing went well, resulting in a good autumn harvest. So overall, it was a favorable year.
Sofklir Babaçiri (hereafter referred to as Sofklir): This year’s weather was favorable for our autumn plowing and sowing.
Mao: Very good. We experienced some disasters this year, but generally speaking, production increased. Had it not been for the drought in the south and the flooding in the north, this would have been a bumper harvest. Compared with the previous year, last year’s output increased by ten million tons. Many socialist countries, however, had poor agricultural yields this year.
Aranit: When we passed through Budapest, we heard that public sentiment there was quite negative, with widespread complaints. Their harvest this year was poor, and the government has resorted to purchasing grain from the United States. By the time we arrived, they had not yet informed the public; perhaps they have done so now.
Mao: Are you planning to return home soon?
Aranit: We are scheduled to leave China on the 26th.
Mao: Today is the 15th—do you still have plans to go elsewhere?
Zhang Dingzhu (hereafter referred to as Zhang): Yes, we plan to visit Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, and Kunming before departing from China.
Mao: Excellent—go and see those places.
Aranit: We will undoubtedly see many things. Your comrades have been extremely helpful to us.
Mao: It’s about exchanging views.
Aranit: Indeed, they have been very helpful.
Mao: Let’s share experiences. Whenever Albanian comrades come to China, they are always warmly welcomed by our side.
Aranit: We have seen this firsthand. Although we already knew in Albania that you would welcome us, actually being here allowed us to witness it personally.
Mao: Is this your first visit to China?
Aranit: Yes, it is.
Mao: Do both of you work in the political and legal fields?
Conversation with the Albanian Prosecutor General and Others
Aranit: No, I am a judicial official, while he (referring to Babaçiri) serves as an inspector at the Party Central Committee.
Mao: Didn’t you have time to visit Northeast China?
Aranit: Time was limited. We spent a month in North Korea, leaving us with little remaining time. We now want to use this time to explore southern China. Traveling to every corner of China would be quite a challenge.
Mao: I just returned from the south myself. The autumn harvest there hasn’t fully concluded yet; it’s almost finished now, though Guangdong may still be harvesting. Will you be going to Guangdong this time?
Huang Huoxing (hereafter referred to as Huang): Yes, we will be going to Guangzhou.
Mao: When dealing with counter-revolutionaries and corrupt officials, administrative and legal measures alone are insufficient. We must rely on the power of the masses. It is more effective when procuratorates, courts, and public security organs work in coordination with the Party’s mass work. For example, cases of extravagance and corruption often cannot be resolved through administrative means alone; what truly intimidates such individuals is the pressure exerted by the masses. By employing a dual-pronged approach—attacking from above and below—they are left with no escape. Such rectifications should be carried out every few years. Even if not annually, they need to occur periodically. For instance, within any organization—whether small or large—problems tend to arise after a certain period. Class struggle remains quite acute in our country. We had neglected addressing this issue for the past decade. Starting last year, we began a multi-year campaign to tackle class struggle and related problems; otherwise, matters could deteriorate significantly. On one hand, remnants of the old bourgeoisie persist, while new bourgeois elements emerge—speculators, embezzlers, and the like. These groups constitute the social foundation of revisionism. If we fail to address them now, China risks falling into revisionism within another decade or so. Of course, their numbers are relatively small, accounting for only a few percent of the population.
Our primary focus is not on arresting or executing people, but rather on criticism and education. That said, we do not rule out arrests or executions altogether. For those who have committed extremely grave crimes and whose actions provoke strong public outrage, arrest becomes unavoidable. Similarly, a small number of individuals engage in destructive activities such as murder, arson, sabotage of factories, or destruction of bridges. As for ordinary saboteurs—those spreading rumors or engaging in other non-serious acts—we refrain from arresting them. Instead, we rely on the masses to monitor them and seek their rehabilitation through labor. This approach appears to be quite effective. We offer our experience for your reference; given the varying circumstances in different countries, we trust that you will adapt it to your own context and achieve even better results.
Judicial work is no easy task. Procuratorates, courts, and public security organs are all instruments of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Aranit: Comrade Mao,
we have discussed several issues with your colleagues, and they even took us to visit Beijing Prison, providing us with extensive information. We were impressed by the outstanding educational work you conduct.
Mao: Not every place does it well.
Aranit: There may be shortcomings in your work as well, but the fundamental approach is correct.
Mao: It is precisely the method of education that transforms people.
Sofklir: I have greatly benefited from the methods you employ.
Mao: First, we must trust the masses. Second, these counter-revolutionaries are a valuable labor force. If we were to arrest and execute them, their families and production teams would lose this workforce. Third, their children would likely harbor resentment toward us. Therefore, using education as a means of reform can help avoid these negative consequences. We believe that by relying on the masses, we can successfully educate and rehabilitate them, while simultaneously allowing them to contribute to social production. This approach also facilitates better engagement with their children and families, preventing feelings of hostility.
Conversation with the Albanian Prosecutor General and Others
However, not all localities implement this effectively. Some comrades are impatient and prefer quick fixes, readily resorting to arrests or calls for execution. By escalating conflicts upward instead of resolving them locally, they only complicate matters further. Such an approach is counterproductive; it is far more beneficial to keep disputes within the community, combining education with productive labor. As for the small minority whom we have already mentioned—did you not visit Beijing Prison? Those individuals are subject to arrest, yet they too are reformed through educational measures.
Which prison did they visit?
Huang: A prison in Beijing.
Mao: Do those inmates have work?
Huang: Yes, there are plastic factories, shoe factories, sock factories, and so on.
Mao: They acquire skills there and are able to work productively upon release.
Aranit: We believe this approach is entirely appropriate. Our own country’s labor camps do involve some form of labor, but it is not as extensive as what you practice here. Our prison system remains weak, although the inmates held within are typically highly dangerous individuals. Nevertheless, even for such persons, an educational approach remains preferable.
Mao: Exactly! First and foremost, we must believe that people can be reformed. Under certain conditions—in the context of the proletarian dictatorship—it is generally possible to transform individuals. Only a very small minority may prove resistant to reform. Even in such cases, once their sentence is complete, they can be released; should they relapse into destructive behavior, they can be rearrested. Some individuals repeatedly violate parole—once, twice, even three times—and continue to cause trouble. For those who consistently defy rehabilitation, we may choose to detain them indefinitely, assigning them to factory work within the prison. Alternatively, we might bring their family members over as well; sometimes, even after completing their sentences, these individuals refuse to return home. In such instances, their families are brought in as well.
Zhang: Upon completion of a sentence, family members can be relocated and provided with employment.
Mao: That’s right—employment assistance. Some individuals simply do not wish to return because they fear damage to their reputation back home. Here, they have established numerous social connections, making it feasible to relocate their families as well—effectively facilitating their permanent resettlement. There are quite a few such cases.
Huang: The prison in Beijing currently employs over four hundred inmates.
Mao: We have nearly reformed even an emperor.
Aranit: We’ve heard of him—he’s Puyi.
Mao: I have met him personally. He is now in his fifties, has found stable employment, and I understand he has remarried.
Aranit:
We’ve also heard that he wrote a book titled “My First Half of Life.”
Mao: That book has not yet been publicly released. We feel it is not particularly well written. He portrays himself as being entirely responsible for everything, as if all blame lies solely with him. In reality, this reflects the circumstances under a specific social system. Given the outdated social order of that time, it was understandable that such an emperor would emerge. Nonetheless, we still need to evaluate this individual more carefully.
How about we wrap up our discussion here? Now, let’s take a photo!