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What did the Chinese government claim happened during the alleged plot against Mao Zedong in 1971?

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Lin Biao, Zhou Enlai, and other Chinese officials stand in uniform, holding up Little Red Books during a 1967 Red Guard rally in China. — Lin Biao At a 1967 Red Guard rally, Lin Biao (left) and Zhou Enlai publicly display copies of *The Little Red Book*.

The Chinese government asserted that in September 1971, Lin Biao orchestrated an abortive assassination plot against Mao Zedong. According to the official account, after this plot failed, Lin attempted to flee to the Soviet Union. The government stated that Lin was killed on September 13, 1971, when his airplane crashed in Mongolia during this flight.12

Following these events, the Chinese leadership purged virtually the entire high military command. Subsequently, Lin was posthumously denounced as a traitor to the cause of Chinese communism and a rightist reactionary. It is important to note that the actual circumstances surrounding his death and the preceding power struggle remain a subject of historical mystery, with some later reports casting doubt on the official narrative regarding the plane crash.12