Report on the Operations of the Work Team of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Public Security over the Past Week

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Report on the Operations of the Work Team of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Public Security over the Past Week

[To the] Party Committee of Xinjiang [Uyghur] Autonomous Region and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Public Security of the Central Government:

The work team of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Public Security of the Central Government arrived in Wulumuqi [Urumqi] on 21 May. The following is a report on their operations over the past week:

The arrival of the work team in Wulumuqi coincided with a conference of the Party Secretaries from the four prefectures of Tacheng [Qoqek], Yili [Ili], Boertala [Bortala], and Aletai [Altay], which discussed the situation of the troubled region, took inventory of the experience and lessons gained, and studied ways to implement the two instructions given by the Central Committee on 14 May. Comrades Xu Huang and Guo Yumin were present at the conference on its last day on 22 May and listened to the wrap-up talk given by Comrade Wang Enmao.

On the morning of 23 May, the work team briefed the regional Party Committee on its task of collecting evidence and material and put forward specific recommendations on how this task could be fulfilled. The regional Party Committee attached great importance to the work. In addition to making arrangements for various localities to provide assistance, the committee also appointed Comrade Lü Jianren to set up a special case office take charge of the work. Comrade Tian Zhong, Secretary-General of the People’s Committee of the Autonomous Region, was appointed as director of the office, while three other comrades, Hou Liang, head of the Office of Public Security; Lu Xi, head of the Foreign Affairs Office; and the Liu Fengzhi, deputy director of the regional Party Committee’s Department of Politics and Law, were appointed deputy directors of the office. The office consists of a number of teams—investigation, interrogation, evidence, aliens, and materials. The Office of Public Security, the Foreign Affairs Office, and the political and law organs dispatched cadres to handle specific work. The office began operations on 24 May.

The work team has been briefed by the Office of Public Security and the Foreign Affairs Office and made a preliminary review of existing materials. It seems that there is plenty of material on Yili, while it has been hard to collect material on Wulumuqi. Thus, in ascending order of difficulty, Yili is designated as the top priority. Guo Yumin and four other comrades left for Yili on 24 May, while Liu Yirong, who arrived on 26 May, Xu Huang, and two other comrades have stayed on in Wulumuqi.

By and large, since the conference of the regional Party Committee, work in all areas has largely been settled, but no significant progress has been made in the collection of evidence and material. Over the past few days, the Office of Public Security and the Foreign Affairs Office primarily concentrated their resources on studying and revising the three documents drafted by the regional Party Committee during the conference with regard to work relating to the Soviet consulates and the Soviet Nationals Association, the handling of Soviet nationals in China, and the scheme for setting up checkpoints for Soviet nationals. Yili and Tacheng officials are busy resolving the problem of which three types pf persons will go to the Soviet Union. As such, the large body of material has only been sequenced and categorized and has not been studied. Little headway has been made in the interrogation of the seven criminals in custody, including the heads of the Soviet Nationals Association in Tacheng, Yili, Wusu [Usu], Zhaosu [Mongolküre], and Tekesi [Tekes], as well as Suo-fei-da [sic] of Yining [Gulja] and Mu-kan [sic] of Wulumuqi. The large amount of material seized has yet to be sorted out and some valuable material is being examined and verified locally.

On the basis of the existing material, the following steps will be taken:

(1) The Soviet Consulate in Yining and several Soviet Nationals Associations under its leadership are aggressive in their activities, distributing a massive number of illegal passports and enlisting Soviet nationals. There is a large amount of material on their interference in China’s internal affairs and instigation of the masses to flee abroad. The activities of the Soviet Consulate-General in Urumqi are more covert, but there are signs of activities using long-established intelligence ties, support for upper-level local nationalist elements, attempts to drive a wedge in ethnic relations, and covert spread of rhetoric against our Party and our government. The two consulates have different priorities. We have preliminarily selected a number of major cases for in-depth investigation and study to enrich the contents. Ili officials should obtain more material.

(2) The work of legal appraisal should keep up. No appraisal should be put off until all material is in order, so as to avoid detours. Comrade Liu plans to travel to Yili at the end of the month to find out more about the study of the cases.

(3) The selected cases are placed under the supervision of dedicated personnel. Their study is to be conducted non-stop and completed within the prescribed time limit. In general, twenty sets of material must be in order in about ten days, and the time thereafter will be reserved for supplementation and processing before the cases are finalized or new cases are selected.

(4) To ensure the progress of work, the special case office has made appropriate an division of responsibilities. The Office of Public Security is tasked with uncovering clandestine activities, instigation of flight, illegal enlisting of Soviet nationals, and interrogation of criminals, while the Foreign Affairs Office is in charge of handling cases of breach of agreements and interference in the country’s internal affairs.

We will keep you updated on the progress of the work. We’re looking forward to your instructions on any inappropriate points [in the above report].

Work Team of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Public Security of the Central Government

29 May 1962

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