Reply to Lin Biao and Others[1]

(February 12, 1943)

The negotiating guidelines were telegraphed to you yesterday. You may agree to take the Hao Telegram as the basis for negotiations. The success of the KMT-CPC negotiations will probably have to wait until the eve of the counteroffensive. Until the counteroffensive, the other side will believe there is no need to compromise with us. The other side is currently watching the changes between Japan and the Soviet Union, thinking that if Japan and the Soviet Union go to war, they can reap the benefits as a fisherman.

[1] This is the main content of Mao Zedong's telegram in reply to Lin Biao, with a copy to Zhou Enlai.