revealing not only that the CPM had not sought external support but also that no agents from either China or Russia had even made contact with them. The only ‘support’ Chin recalled obtaining was the encouraging news that Mao's guerrillas had defeated Chiang Kai-shek's well-equipped and numerically superior KMT army in 1949. Briggs Plan In 1950, a series of strategies were introduced by the Director of Operations for the anti-communist war in Malaya, Lt. General Sir Harold Briggs, that later became known as the Briggs Plan. The plan, which aimed to defeat the guerrillas by cutting off their sources of civilian support, was a success. The creation of ‘New Villages’ under this plan restricted intelligence and food supplies for the CPM, and thus had a devastating effect on the guerrillas. Chin was well aware of this fact, since several times he nearly starved during those twelve years. After several reviews and amendments, the CPM ordered the guerrillas to cease sabotage and terror operations and to develop closer ties with the middle-class to preserve their organizational strength. Chin would later admit in an interview in 1999 that this directive was a mistake as it allowed the British to press on with their attacks on the MNLA, whom they correctly assessed to be quite demoralised by then. After Sir Harold Briggs died, Lt. General Sir Gerald Templer was appointed as the new commander, introducing aggressive strategies which differed from the Briggs Plan. These included interrogations, food rationing, large monetary rewards for captured or killed communists coupled with intense military operations, and the mobilisation of a large number of troops to hound the guerrillas. In 1953, the CPM relocated their headquarters to Betong, in southern Thailand. They reestablished its networks to connect the scattered units and review its strategy. In late 1953 and early 1954, the war was at a semi-stalemate due to both the MNLA and the British being unable to decisively defeat one another. In early 1954, Siao Chang, a top CPM leader who had been sent to Beijing in late 1952 to deepen his Marxist–Leninist education while also serving as liaison to the CCP, announced a new direction for the party, which was to abandon the establishment of the People's Democratic Republic of Malaya and join with other Malayan political parties in a legal fight for Malaya independence. Chin described Siao as the CPM's ‘insurance policy’ in the event the