Telegram of Congratulations from Mao Zedong et al. on the Twentieth Anniversary of the Liberation of Czechoslovakia (May 8, 1965)  To Comrade Antonín Novotný, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and President of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic; to Comrade Bohuslav Hostinský, Chairman of the National Assembly of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic; and to Comrade Josef Lenárt, Prime Minister of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic:

On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the liberation of Czechoslovakia, we extend our warmest congratulations to you and to the fraternal people of Czechoslovakia. In 1945, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and with the assistance of the Soviet Union, the Czechoslovak people drove out the German fascist occupiers, thereby securing national independence and the liberation of their homeland. We are pleased to note that, since the liberation, the Czechoslovak people have thwarted the bourgeoisie’s attempts to restore capitalism and have achieved successes in the socialist revolution and in the building of socialism.

The peoples of China and Czechoslovakia enjoy a profound fraternal friendship. To safeguard and strengthen this friendship is in line with the common aspirations of our two peoples. We are firmly convinced that the peoples of China and Czechoslovakia will stand closely united with the peoples of all other countries in the socialist camp, to combat the aggressive and war-mongering policies of U.S.-led imperialism, to oppose West German militarism and revanchism, to support the just struggle of the Vietnamese people against U.S. aggression for national salvation, and to strive together for the victory of world peace, national liberation, people’s democracy, and socialism.

We wish the Czechoslovak people new achievements in the cause of socialist construction, and we hope that the fraternal friendship between the peoples of China and Czechoslovakia will continue to be consolidated and developed.

Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China  Liu Shaoqi, President 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, 1965  Printed from the People’s Daily, May 9, 1965.