Agreed.
Comments on Su Zhenhua’s Report on Navy Construction
(May 23, 1975)


Strive hard; achieve the goal within ten years.


Notes
Mao Zedong
May 23, 1975


Printed according to documents issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee.

--- Notes



[1] On May 22, 1975, Su Zhenhua, alternate member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, a standing committee member of the Central Military Commission, and First Political Commissar of the People’s Liberation Army Navy, wrote a report to Mao Zedong stating: On May 8, based on my own recollection, I conveyed to the Standing Committee of the Navy Party Committee the Chairman’s instructions to the Navy given on the evening of May 3. During last night’s study session of the Political Bureau on these instructions, it was found that there were some discrepancies in my recollection. After checking the records, the Chairman’s instructions read as follows: “The responsibility for managing the Navy rests with you. The Navy must be put in good shape so that the enemy will fear us. Our Navy is only this large at present.” Whether this is accurate or not, I respectfully submit it to the Chairman for review. We intend to communicate these important instructions of the Chairman to the naval units and relevant industrial departments (except for the first sentence). Please advise whether this course of action is appropriate. As early as 1953, at an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau, the Chairman had already instructed that a powerful navy should be built in a planned and step-by-step manner. However, despite more than twenty years of effort, the Navy remains relatively small. At present, our country has independently established a shipbuilding industry base of considerable scale, capable of producing around 50,000 tons of military vessels annually, with plans to further increase shipbuilding capacity year by year. We must strictly follow the Chairman’s instructions, work diligently to improve all aspects of the Navy’s work, and strive to build a fairly strong navy within approximately ten years. The General Office of the CPC Central Committee subsequently issued Su Zhenhua’s letter together with Mao Zedong’s comments as Document No. 146 of 1975.