October 11, 1958
Telegram, Mao Zedong to Zhou Enlai
This document was made possible with support from Chun & Jane Chiu Family Foundation
[...]
Comrade [Zhou] Enlai:
No hurry to reply to the letters from the Soviets. Need to discuss them first.
Cao Juren has arrived. Ignore him for a few days, do not talk to him too soon. [I] will think about whether I need to meet him or not.
Tell [Huang] Kecheng to double-check accurate numbers of how many enemy airplanes we shot down, and how many of our planes were shot down in more than fifty days of air engagements since the Shantou air battle on 19 August. Prepare the statistics for the Soviets’ information. They believed the enemy’s false information and do not know the true story. [The Soviets] should sell ground-to-air missiles to us, and let us control the employment of them. The Soviets may send a few people to teach us how to use them. I intend to adopt this policy. [We can] discuss and decide whether it is appropriate tonight or tomorrow night.
Mao Zedong
10:00 A.M., 11 October [1958]
[...]
Mao sends instructions to Zhou Enlai, asking him to send information to the Soviets about the number of planes that were short down during air engagements in the Taiwan Strait. He adds that "[the Soviets] should sell ground-to-air missiles to us, and let us control the employment of them."
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