Instructions Concerning Welcoming Li Zongren[I] Back to the Country[2]
(3 February 1965)

To the Premier[3]:

It seems we should welcome Li Zongren back to the country. The matter of submitting a letter to the American newspaper last year does not affect the overall situation; do not criticize it,
because he has already admitted his mistake.

Mao Zedong
Morning of 3 February

When will Kosygin[4] arrive in Beijing?
Please inform.

[I]
Li Zongren, formerly leader of the Guangxi Clique of the Kuomintang. In April 1948, he served as Vice President of the Kuomintang government, and in January 1949, after Chiang Kai-shek stepped down, he served as Acting President of the Kuomintang government. After the collapse of the Kuomintang regime, he went to the United States.

[2]
This instruction was written on a report issued by the Investigation Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on 31 January 1965, concerning Liao Xingjian (a fellow townsman of Li Zongren from Guilin) discussing Li Zongren’s activities in Hong Kong, addressed to Mao Zedong and others. The report stated that Cheng Siyuan (formerly Deputy Secretary-General of the Extraordinary Committee of the Kuomintang Central Committee) reported on 25 January that Liao Xingjian told him in Hong Kong that Li Zongren was preparing to return from the United States to the motherland via Hong Kong. To demonstrate his determination to leave the United States, Li had already placed an advertisement to sell his house in New Jersey and planned to travel to Europe in April or May. He deeply regretted the matter of submitting a letter to the *New York Herald Tribune* last year, but unfortunately it was too late to remedy. Returning to the country is now the only viable path for Li. Could a guiding principle be issued first, so that Li has something to follow.

[3]
The Premier refers to Zhou Enlai.

[4]
Kosygin, then Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, led a Soviet delegation to arrive in Beijing on 10 February 1965.