CONFIDENTIAL
will on a number of provinces.
The situation in the Provinces
6. So far there have only been 6 officially approved
"revolutionary takeovers" i.e. in 4 out of the 26
Provinces und Autonomous Regions and in the cities of
Peking and Shanghai a very poor record after five
months of effort. In a further 5 Provinces some progress
towards a takeover has taken place. According to a report
we have recently seen of a speech by the Prime Minister,
Chou En-lai, (which was intended for Chinese internal
consumption only and appears to be genuine), a majority,
probably about 10 of the other provinces (including
Kwangtung which borders on Hong Kong), appear to be under
the effective control of the Army, which has been striving
to restore order and keep production going. Chou also
indicated that in 7 provinces the situation was so
unfavourable that no attempt had been made to endorse the
local leadership.
7. It is clear, in general, that there is a state of
considerable confusion in the provinces and there have
been reliable reports of small scale armed clashes in
Szechwan (West China) and Ilonan (Central China). Where
order is being maintained this is being done by the Army
and by the imposition of control from above rather than
the theoretical Maoist method of seizure of power from
below.
CONFIDENTIAL
/Foreign Policy