Peng Dehuai
In 1959, Zhang Wentian attended the Lushan Meeting. On July 14, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission and Vice Minister of the State Council and Minister of National Defense Peng Dehuai wrote a letter to Chairman Mao Zedong. In the letter, he first affirmed that the principles of the Great Leap forward was correct. However, Peng subsequently pointed out the problems of the Great Leap Forward: "Now looking back, the basic development in 1958 was overly rapid and a bit too much. In the year 1959, not only the pace could not be slowed down, nor was it properly controlled, and continuing the Great Leap Forward did not lead to immediate regulation of imbalances, but only added new temporary difficulties.” He also pointed out that the lack of democracy and personal worship are the root causes of all these evils." On July 19, Huang Kecheng, chief advisor of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and Zhou Xiaozhou, the first secretary of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee, spoke in support of Peng Dehuai. On July 21, Zhang Wentian made a speech for three hours and used more precise theoretical terms to criticize the leftist mistakes of the Great Leap Forward and the People's commune. He advocated the promotion of democracy within the party and supported Peng Dehuai. Subsequently, Mao Zedong, who originally advocated "rectification of the left," turned to criticize the "Peng Dehuai Anti-Party Group". Zhang Wentian was classified by Mao Zedong as a "Right opportunist" element and a member of “Peng Dehuai Anti-Party Group”. After the meeting, "Anti-Rightist Movement" was launched again. Zhang Wentian was further criticized at the National Foreign Affairs Conference and was removed from the post of deputy minister of foreign affairs.