Friendly Armies

To His Excellency Mr. Hanqing:

The Chinese Communist Party's proposal for a united anti-Japanese national united front of all parties, factions, circles, and armies has been over a year. Although it has received the support of the people of the whole country, the Chinese Kuomintang has not only adopted a hesitant attitude to this day, but also, when the Japanese bandits are preparing to launch a large-scale offensive, ordered Hu Zongnan's army to penetrate deep into Shaanxi and Gansu to cooperate with the troops under your command to expand the mutually destructive civil war. We formally declare that, in order to promptly implement the proposition of stopping the civil war and uniting to resist Japan, as long as the Kuomintang army stops attacking the Red Army, does not obstruct the Red Army's path to resist Japan, and does not infringe upon the Red Army's rear for resisting Japan, we will first stop attacking the Kuomintang army, as a firm expression of our ceasefire and resistance to Japan, and quietly await the Kuomintang authorities' awakening. Only when the Kuomintang army attacks us will we give necessary counterattacks in a self-defensive manner, which is also to promote the Kuomintang authorities' awakening.

You, sir, are the leader of the Northwest armies and an important person responsible for the crossroads of resisting Japan and civil war. If you can consider the way out for the historical relations of the Chinese nation, we pray that you will make a decisive decision immediately, immediately stop the Northwest armies from attacking the Red Army, and pray that you will relay our opinion to Mr. Jiang Jieshi to make a quick decision, send formal representatives to negotiate specific conditions for a ceasefire and resistance to Japan, and prepare a draft agreement for the Kuomintang and Communist Parties to resist Japan and save the nation for your perusal. The enemy is deep and the disaster is urgent, we hope that you, sir, will quickly take action.

Mao Zedong Zhou Enlai

October 5, 1936