194.58.12 (Xinhua News Agency, Yan’an, November 11) — A Xinhua correspondent today issued a commentary in response to remarks by the Kuomintang Central Propaganda Department’s spokesperson and to Chiang Kai-shek’s “order.” The Xinhua correspondent stated: The KMT Propaganda Department’s spokesperson has characterized Commander-in-Chief Zhu’s August 10 order, issued from the Yan’an headquarters, demanding the surrender of Japanese forces and their puppet collaborators, as a “sudden and illegal act.” Such an assessment is utterly absurd. By this logic, one might infer that since Commander-in-Chief Zhu, acting in accordance with the Potsdam Declaration and in light of the enemy’s expressed intent to surrender, had instructed his units to secure the enemy’s capitulation, he was actually in the wrong; rather, he should have urged the enemy and its collaborators to refuse to surrender—only then would his actions have been deemed proper and lawful. No wonder that China’s fascist chief, the tyrannical national traitor Chiang Kai-shek, dared, even before the enemy had genuinely accepted defeat, to “order” the anti-Japanese forces in the liberated areas to “remain in their present positions on standby,” effectively tying their hands while leaving the field open for the enemy to strike. Nor is it surprising that this same fascist leader also “ordered” the so-called underground forces—essentially quisling troops engaged in a policy of covert collaboration, such as those aligned with Dai Li’s secret service—to “be responsible for maintaining local public order,” while forbidding the anti-Japanese troops in the liberated areas from taking any independent action against the enemy or its collaborators. This grotesque inversion of friend and foe is, in itself, a self-incrimination by Chiang Kai-shek, vividly revealing his longstanding modus operandi of colluding with the enemy and eliminating political opponents. Indeed, it was precisely the Potsdam Declaration, signed by all the major Allied powers, that stipulated unequivocally: “The Japanese military shall cease all hostilities and surrender unconditionally to the Generalissimo of the Chinese Expeditionary Force.” Yet Chiang Kai-shek’s so-called “orders” directly contravene the very Potsdam Declaration he himself had ratified. A simple comparison like this suffices to show who, in fact, is failing to abide by the provisions of the joint agreement among the Allies. The Xinhua correspondent continued: Both the KMT Central Propaganda Department’s statement and Chiang Kai-shek’s “order” are, from beginning to end, incitements to civil war, designed to seize upon the moment when domestic and international attention is focused on Japan’s unconditional surrender as a pretext for immediately launching a civil conflict once the war concludes. In truth, the KMT reactionaries are lamentably foolish. They have seized upon Commander-in-Chief Zhu’s directive calling for the enemy and its collaborators to lay down their arms as a justification—can such a rationale possibly be considered clever? No; resorting to this kind of pretext merely demonstrates that, in the eyes of the KMT reactionaries, the enemy and its puppets are far more congenial than their own countrymen, whom they regard with bitter animosity. Take the Chunhua incident, for example: it was the Hu Zongnan forces that invaded the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, thereby provoking civil war, yet the KMT reactionaries falsely portrayed it as a “rumor campaign” orchestrated by the Communist Party. Having easily manufactured this excuse, they soon found themselves exposed by both domestic and foreign public opinion, whereupon they promptly shifted their narrative, claiming that the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army ought not to have accepted the surrender of enemy troops. Over eight years of resistance, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army endured relentless pincers attacks and sieges launched jointly by Chiang Kai-shek’s forces and the Japanese invaders. Now, as the war is drawing to a close, Chiang Kai-shek is again signaling to the Japanese—and to his beloved puppet troops—to refrain from surrendering their weapons to the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, insisting instead that they hand them over only to him personally. What remains unsaid by Chiang Kai-shek is that this very arrangement would serve to consolidate a Sino-Japanese alliance under his leadership, replacing the earlier Sino-Japanese cooperation with a new pact between Chiang and the Japanese, and to supplant Wang Jingwei’s collaborationist regime with a counter-revolutionary state established under Chiang’s auspices. Is such a course not a blatant violation of the Potsdam Declaration? Once the war ends, the threat of civil war will undoubtedly intensify overnight. On this point, there can be no doubt. The only course forward is to call upon our fellow countrymen throughout the nation and our allies around the globe to unite with the people of the liberated areas and resolutely prevent this civil war, which poses a grave danger to world peace. Turning to the question of who possesses the authority to accept the surrender of Japanese forces and their collaborators, the Xinhua correspondent remarked: Under conditions of complete neglect and outright denial by the Kuomintang government, the anti-Japanese armed forces of the Chinese liberated areas, relying solely on their own efforts and the unwavering support of the people, have managed to liberate vast tracts of territory and more than one hundred million compatriots, while simultaneously confronting 56 percent of the invading Japanese army and 95 percent of the puppet forces. Were it not for these forces, China would not have reached its present juncture. In fact, within China’s borders, only the forces operating in the liberated areas possess the legitimate right to receive the surrender of enemy and collaborator troops. As for Chiang Kai-shek, his policy has consistently been one of passive observation, waiting passively for victory to fall into his lap; he has absolutely no authority whatsoever to accept such surrenders. We hereby declare to the three major Allied powers, to our fellow countrymen nationwide, and to all peoples of the world: Comrade Chiang Kai-shek does not represent the Chinese people, nor does he command China’s true anti-Japanese forces. It is the Chinese people, through the anti-Japanese armed forces of the liberated areas under the supreme command of Commander-in-Chief Zhu De, who directly dispatch representatives to participate in the ceremonies marking Japan’s formal surrender to the Four Major Powers, thereby exercising their rightful authority to assume military occupation of Japan and to convene the peace conference. Should this not be done, the Chinese people would deem it highly inappropriate. – San Yi C


O Liberation Daily, August 13, 1945 Female Reference Material on the History of the Chinese Communist Party, Volume IV: “Xinhua Correspondent’s Commentary on Chiang Kai-shek’s Provocation of Civil War”