Letter, Mao Zedong to Comrade Filippov [Stalin]

Comrade Filippov [Stalin]:^[1]

According to my proposal in two telegrams dated March 28 and May 31 and your two telegrams in reply indicating your consent dated April 2 and April 9, we have decided to send, on a publicly-acknowledged trip the Soviet Union, a five-person delegation composed of Zhou Enlai, Chen Yun (Member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Deputy Premier of the Central People's Government), Li Fuchun (Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Deputy Director of the Financial and Economic Committee of the Central People's Government), Zhang Wentian (Member of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee and Chinese Ambassador to the Soviet Union), and Su Yu (Alternate Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Deputy Chief of Staff of the People's Revolutionary Military Committee of the People's Government of the Central People's Government).

They will report to you on the work of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea and developments in China over the past three years and the overall plan for the next five years of national construction. They will also discuss the following issues with the Soviet government:

1. To propose the conclusion with the Soviet government of a new agreement between China and the Soviet Union on the continued use of the Lüshun Port naval base and the extension of the Soviet military presence in the Lüshun Port area;

2. To conclude an agreement between China and the Soviet Union (or between China, Mongolia and the Soviet Union) for the repair of segments of railway in China, Mongolia, and the Soviet Union between Jining (Pingdiquan) through Ute to Ulaanbaatar to Ulan Ude agreement;

3. To conclude a technical cooperation agreement between China and the Soviet Union on the cultivation of rubber in China;

4. To request Soviet government assistance with China's geological survey, industrial design and equipment, equipment ordering and technical assistance. The scope of the need for industrial assistance includes the steel industry, the non-ferrous metals industry, the chemical industry, the machine manufacturing industry, electrical appliance manufacturing, the aviation industry, the shipbuilding industry, the automobile and tractor manufacturing industry, coal mining, the petroleum industry, the electric power industry, the foodstuff industry;

5. To request Soviet government assistance in areas such as building up China's national defense, military equipment, production of military materiel, communications equipment, and the resupply of military materiel for Korea;

6. Request the Soviet government to grant loan assistance to cover the difference between the cost of China's five-year national construction plan and China’s earning from trade with the Soviet Union.

The five-member delegation plans to fly to Moscow after August 10. They will have about 50 people in their entourage.

As mentioned above, please consider whether the candidate proposed for the delegation, the timing of their trip to the Soviet Union whether or what kind of publicity would be appropriate. We look forward to receiving your advice.

Mao Zedong

 July 27, 1952

^[1] The editors of Jianguo yilai Zhou Enlai wengao (Zhou Enlai’s Manuscripts since the Founding of the PRC) included several footnotes in this document that provided information on the names and places mentioned. These footnotes have not been translated into English. – Charles Kraus.