Cable from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, 'Handling the Issue of Border Residents Fleeing from Yili and Tacheng to the Soviet Union'

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Handling the Issue of Border Residents Fleeing from Yili and Tacheng to the Soviet Union

[To the] Foreign Affairs Office of the Xinjiang [Uyghur] Autonomous Region:

Our proposed solution to the problem of Uyghur and Kazakh borders residents fleeing from Yili [Ili] and Tacheng [Qoqek] to the Soviet Union, which your office reported during an 18 April phone call, is as follows:

Immediately instruct the heads of the Chinese border defense stations at Yili and Tacheng to notify the heads of the corresponding border defense stations in the Soviet Union that we discovered people fleeing to the Soviet Union (along with farm tools, livestock, etc.) on a particular date and ask that they assist us with their repatriation. Do not mention the trucks which picked them up at the border of the Soviet Union. If they ask about the reasons behind the flight, simply reply that further investigation will be required following their repatriation. This will prevent us from falling into a disadvantageous position if they ask questions first. Please report the situation of the meeting to the Ministry [of Foreign Affairs] as soon as possible.

Please report to us if you do not agree with this proposal.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

21 April 1962

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